The Book
by Brianna Lynette
Summary: How one innocent object can change everything you know.
1. Good Therapy and Boredom

Disclaimer: I don't own anything familiar to you.

It looked innocent enough. After all it was just a book. Some people picked it up and enjoyed the story within its pages. Others never even gave it a glance. It was even talked about amongst friends who liked the story it told. The Author was not well known and the book was the only one ever written by that person. They had meant to write it to let out some of the emotions they had been keeping locked up. Their therapist had thought it was a good idea. It was never suppose to be published. No one was ever supposed to read it. But when you leave stuff lying around sometimes other people pick them up. That is what happened with the book. The Author had a friend who worked for a small successful publishing house. The Author had left their laptop on and open to the book. The friend had come over to have lunch with the Author, and the Author had left him alone in the room where the computer was on while they finished getting ready. The friend had been looking at a picture sitting next to the computer and when he glanced at the screen a few words caught his eye. He was never the type of person to pry into his friend's lives without asking but sometimes when you are reading a really good story it is hard to stop. That is what he told the Author when they caught him reading it. The Author was furious! That was personal. The friend had no right to look at it. They never went to lunch. The friend was asked to leave. The friend had read enough to be interested though. He tried for months to apologize but the Author didn't want to hear it. Finally after almost a year of not speaking to the friend, the Author asked him to come over. The Author's therapist told them that they should maybe listen to what the friend thought about the book. Sharing your emotions was a good thing. So the Author forgave the friend and let him finish reading the book. The friend said that it was good and if the Author wanted too he could get it published once it was finished. At first the Author said no. It would hurt some people's feelings if they read it. The friend accepted this answer and asked to read it when more was added. The Author said okay. Over the next two years the Author kept writing and the friend liked it more each time he read it. Finally the Author decided that they were done writing about that part of their life. It was time to move on and be happy again. Once again when the friend finished the book he told the Author that it should be published. This time the Author thought about what he said and a week after it was done the Author agreed. After all the Author could change all the names and since the friend's publishing house was so small the book might not be widely distributed. And maybe the people it affected the most would never read it. So the Author changed all the names, picked a pen name and let the friend publish it.

When it first came out the book did alright. It wasn't a best seller or anything. The literary world hardly noticed it at all. Until one day when a young woman from New York picked it up in a store off the beaten path. She loved it. And she just happened to be from a major publishing house. She wanted to know who the Author was. So she called the small publishing house to ask about them. She was connected to the friend. He told her that it was the Author's first book and that they didn't plan to write another. When she asked him if she could help the book sell better he was reluctant at first. After talking to the Author a deal was made. The two publishing houses would work together to help get the book out there to more people, just as long as the Author didn't have to do anything more then what they already did. So the young woman worked hard and managed to put a copy in several major bookstores in America. The book sold well. It wasn't number one on the New York Times bestseller list but it was at the bottom of the list for a few months. The book was doing well and the Author kept waiting for a visit or phone call, something to show that the people it was about had read it. But it never happened. Nobody ever yelled at the Author for what they wrote in the book. Years went by and the Author moved on with their life. Most of the time the Author forgot completely about the book and about the life that caused the book to be written. Little did the Author know that twenty years after writing the book their life would be changed.

_Hartford, Connecticut_

_June 2016_

Thirty-two year old and eight months pregnant Rory Huntzberger was bored. There was nothing for her to do at home. She had already spent the morning cleaning it up and planning what to feed her family for dinner. Ryan's nursery had been done for weeks and she had just finished an article. Logan told her that she should use the last weeks of her pregnancy to relax and do whatever she wanted. Rory usually used her occasional day off to do just that, but she had already done most of her day off activities since going on maternity leave two weeks ago. So after finishing her morning chores and dropping Richie and Julie off at school she decided to go shopping. The young mother spent most of the morning wondering from store to store occasionally picking a little something up for Logan or one of the kids. It was almost lunch time when she came across a small bookstore. It was nothing spectacular just a small and cozy. It reminded Rory a lot of the one back in Stars Hollow. The place was empty when she walked in, which she secretly loved, and she started to browse. She looked at almost every book in the place. It took her almost two hours and she had a stack that would get a laugh out of her husband. The elderly shopkeeper looked surprised at how many books she had and told her so.

"Wow you she did find a lot!" Rory smiled at the older woman.

"Yes well my husband tells me that I have a serious addiction."

"We can set some of those aside for you if you like?"

"Oh no it's alright I will just need to make several trips to my car."

"You know we have a small shelf in the back that hardly anyone looks at of some older books if you wanted to take a look." Margret, the shopkeeper, told her while starting to ring her up. Rory looked reluctant at first but then decided that she was already buying so much what could looking at a few more hurt. As she looked through them she discovered that at one point or another she had read most of them. She was about to go back up to the counter when it caught her eye. It looked almost brand new and like something somebody from Hollywood would make into a romantic comedy. Very rarely did Rory ever pick up a book like this but as she looked at the cover something about it told her that it wouldn't be your typical romantic comedy. Rory knew that she would be buying this book before she ever turned it over to read the back. There was something about it that intrigued her and the reporter in her had to figure out what that was. When she went back up to where Margret was and handed the last book at her the older woman smiled down at the book she had.

"I love this book. I don't know what it is but something in the way the Author writes has you hooked before you even begin reading. When I read it I felt like there was something more to the story and that someday someone would come buy it and it would change their life. I know that's silly but it is a feeling I have always had. I hope you enjoy it." After paying for her books Rory went and picked up Julie from preschool. The mother and daughter had lunch at a small café not too far from home when they ran into Katie Morgan and her four year old twins.

"Hey Rory, Julie." The red-headed mother greeted.

"Hey Katie, Cayden, Amy, would you guys like to join us?" Rory asked her friend.

"We would love to. Thank you Rory." After the group was settled and had ordered their food Katie turned to her friend.

"So how are you feeling Rory?"

"I'm ready for him to be here already. I am kind of ready to be done being pregnant."

"Yeah that's how I was the last couple months with the twins. It made me a little irritable too and Finn and I got into some small fights. During one of them I told him that after this I was done having kids, that five was enough. This confused him and caused him to ask if I was having triplets and just forgot to tell him, then I told him that sometimes being married to him made me feel like I had an extra kid." Rory could see the look that Finn must have got on his face and laughed.

"Yeah well Logan and I had decided that we were done. I mean we have one of each and neither of us was desperate to have another so we weren't going to have another. Logan didn't want to get snipped though so I said I would stay on birth control and of course that means I end up pregnant." Katie gave her friend a questioning look.

"Right after we were married Logan and I decided to wait to have children, so I stayed on my birth control and we still used condoms of course. Not too long after that I got pregnant with Richie. He was a surprise but a good surprise. We planned on Julie as you know and right after her fourth birthday made the decision not to have another kid. When we found out I was pregnant and that it was a boy Logan made a joke that every time we decide not to have a kid I get pregnant with a boy. I told Logan that that it showed a little Huntzberger rebellion in the boys."

"I promise that I will do my best to make sure my godson doesn't rebel too badly but I can't promise that Finn won't." Rory laughed. The two young mothers spent a few hours catching up, while their children played together. By the time Rory and Julie got home it was time to start dinner. So she got her daughter settled with a coloring book and did just that. Soon after dinner was done Logan and Richie came home and the family of four ate while talking about their days. It wasn't until the kids were in bed that Rory got a chance to start reading her new book. She settled in, kissed her husband goodnight and started to read, not realizing that it would change her life and the life of the people around her.

_If you were to ask anyone who was around when everything started they would tell you that it began in 1980. They would be wrong. It really began when I was eight or nine was and my brother Michael was six or seven. We had been having a picnic at the park and Michael and I were playing with some kids we met there. My father stopped by to surprise us and became furious at our nanny for letting us play with 'kids like that' as my father put it. Mother was with us and stopped father from firing nanny right on the spot. But for the entire next week mother woke Michael and I and looked after us all day. That day in the park had changed my perspective on my entire world. Until that day, my life had been one of privilege. My siblings and I went to the best schools that money could buy, and could have anything or go anywhere we wanted. But when I thought about how angry father was at nanny I realized that we were expected to be a certain way. That because of our money we were expected to socialize with certain people. Even at the age of eight I didn't think that was right. I didn't like the things my family did to save face with their so called friends. I didn't like what people got away with in this world. The things people overlooked like it was nothing and then made a big deal out of something that was nothing. So what year did it really start? It started for real in 1967, my eighth year in this world was the year I started to hate my life._

**Alright so I'm back with another story. I hope that it didn't confuse anybody to much in the beginning. I had a hard time writing the first part because I can't reveal any of the first characters names yet. The stuff in italics at the end is the book Rory is reading. I am going to try and go back and forth between the books time and present day. I don't know if I will do very well. For those of you who read my last story it might be awhile yet before I get to a sequel on that but I WILL be doing one. I have said this before; I tend to write a little less when I am off of school. I am trying to work on that though. Also I am trying to write another story for a different tv show at the same time. I will finish this story because I like it. If you have read Saving Logan then the pairing are the same but this is not in the same universe as that story. Lastly please let me know what you think. I live to hear what you guys have to say about my writing. If there is something you think I can do better or something I'm not doing that you think I should please let me know. I want to get better. Hope you enjoy this.**

**Brianna**

**P.S. After this chapter I will do my best to make chapters longer. This one was kind of a prologue.**


	2. Ireland and A Baby

_I don't want you to think that I became one of those people that hated themselves and the world for no good reason. I didn't hate myself or anybody else for that matter, at least not yet. I hated what being a part of my family stood for. The expectations that we had and the fact that Michael just accepted it no questions asked. Of course no one in my family really knew how I truly felt about this world my family and I lived in. Even if they did know, they wouldn't understand and I would have a hard time explaining it to them. So I did what most of the people in this world did, I pretended. When I was out in the world I was the happy, oldest daughter of a very wealthy family. But when I was alone, the smile disappeared and I let myself get lost in a world of music and books. I spent a lot of time listening to music and planning trips to other countries, imaging a life outside of the world I had come to hate. When I was thirteen my parents sent me to boarding school for the last four years of my education, while I was there I finally let myself become good friends with people. I had every intention of just getting through the next four years in exactly the same way I had lived the last four, being the perfect daughter and young woman in public while not letting anybody in. I only managed to live like that for the first week. My roommate had decided that we were going to be best friends the minute I met her. The entire first week at school she kept telling me all these random things about her life and I didn't want to hear about any of them. I figured that she was some rich girl, like me, and her parents didn't want to put up with her, like mine. When I didn't speak to her very much the first day she came up with a plan. She told me that she was going to tell me at least one fact about herself every day until she found something I would talk to her about. The first day she gave me two facts._

_"My name is Mary and I'm from Ireland." She looked expectantly at me. Silently asking me to tell her my name and location, I did so but only because it was polite to do so._

_"Anna and I'm from Hartford." Mary seemed satisfied with my answer and left me to finish my unpacking. The next morning while we were getting ready for class Mary gave me the fact of the day._

_"I think that St. Patrick's Day is a stupid, pointless holiday. Americans use it as an excuse to wear green and get drunk, Ireland is always green and no one ever needs an excuse to get pissed there." Those were the most words she spoke to me that day. We had classes together and she was nice and polite, like me. We even sat together at meals. Mary seemed determined to make her plan work while trying to respect me by not pushing me to talk with her. Day three:_

_"I have always wanted to go to New York, climb all the stairs to the very top of the Empire State Building and just watch the people down below me all day long."_

_Day Four:_

_"I'm the only girl in a family of six boys."_

_Day Five:_

_"I love books and the literary world. I want to write or teach, or maybe even own a bookstore if I could."_

_Day Six:_

_"My mother thinks I am going to run the family restaurant someday. I don't have the heart to tell her I don't want too."_

_Every day Mary told me something a little more personal. Most of the time I just nodded and went on with the day, but sometimes I responded to her. I told her that I had two brothers and a sister in response to her telling me about her brothers. I also told her that my mother expects me to marry well and be a good wife. What I didn't tell her was that I had no intention of being a society wife. Despite our morning conversations we still weren't friends or best friends as Mary put it. I liked her well enough but I couldn't let us become close if she ended up being like the girls from back home._

_Day Seven:_

_"I'm here on a scholarship. My family doesn't have a lot of money but my parents still wanted to give me a good education. So I applied for a scholarship that the company of one of our regular customers gives out and got it. That man's son goes hear too and is one of my closest friends." As Mary was speaking those words I stopped what I was doing and rethought my decision to not get close to her. She could understand and maybe I could have a real friend instead of the girls back home that really bug me._

_"I hate being rich. I hate the expectations that it comes with, the things people get away with, the way it only creates the illusion of a family, and most of all I hate the way it makes people act fake myself included." I was surprised at what came out of my mouth in response to Mary's statement, but when I saw her smiling at me in the same way she always did, I didn't regret it. Something changed that day. When the two of us went to class we actually spoke to one another and to other people. That day at lunch I met her guy friend she told me about. His name was Chris and to my surprise he was nothing like the society guys from back home. Chris was a like a brother to me. Actually he was what my brothers would have been with me if we were a normal family. The three of us became inseparable and for the first time since I was eight years old, I was happy. The three of us were usually in our own little world because despite Chris being normal the rest of the spoiled rich kids that went to our school were just as bad as the ones I had left back in Hartford. I did learn a new way to be around these kids though. Chris reminded me that they didn't really know any better because it was how they were raised. So unless they were intentionally rude to me, I was friendly towards them and eventually came to call some of them friends. My inner circle was always Chris and Mary. As the holidays came around I found myself looking forward to spending some time with my family. The six of us went to Italy every year and we always had a great time. We hardly ever fought and there was no society events to attend which meant we didn't have to pretend to be enjoying ourselves. Mary and Chris were going back to Ireland for the holidays. The last week of classes before the holidays I got a letter from my mother. The letter explained that her and Father were going to the Caribbean for the holiday, my brother Michael was going snowboarding with some friends, and Mark and Angela were staying home with their nanny. She told me that I was welcome to come along with Father and her if I wanted. It made me angry so I threw it away. Almost immediately after telling my friends about my changed plans they both insisted that I come home with them for Christmas. So I did. It was one of the best holidays I had ever had. Mary's mother treated me like one of her own children and I discovered that Chris's mother died when he was three. Both families spent the holiday together and it was a madhouse. The entire group was incredibly close and I couldn't help but wish that my family was like that. Towards the end of our holiday the entire group was out in the back yard having a snowball fight. I smiled as I watched them from the porch a little jealous that my own family wasn't like that. I was so caught up in watching them that I didn't notice Chad, one of Mary's older brothers, come up behind me._

_"Why do you look so sad?" I jumped at the sound of his voice._

_"I wish my own family could be like that." Chad nodded as if he understood. And maybe he did. I knew that he was one of Mary's favorite brothers and that she told her brothers a lot._

_"Can I tell you something?" he asked coming to stand next to me. I nodded._

_"When I was younger and annoyed at my younger siblings my mom told me something. This was right before Chris became part of our family. She said 'Chad you see that father and son over there? All they have is each other. That poor man's wife passed on leaving him to raise their baby boy all on his own. Now that little boy has no other family least of all any brothers or sisters to play with. You should be grateful to have what you have.' She asked Chris and his father for Christmas dinner that year. They have come every year since. A few months after we practically adopted those two I was again annoyed at my younger siblings and my mother came and talked to me again. 'Chad look around you, look at how happy Chris and his dad are. Those two are family now and you know what they aren't related by blood or marriage. Sometimes when the world doesn't give you a lot of things like family then you have to create your own.' What I am trying to tell you Anna is that just because your blood relations aren't the greatest doesn't mean you don't have family. I know for a fact that you will never get rid of my sister, which means that you will never get rid of any of us. We all kind of come in a package." That was the day my friends started becoming my true family._

For the last four days Rory did almost nothing but read her new book. She had a hard time understanding why she didn't want to put it down. Nothing big had happened yet so there was no need to find out what happens next. But for some reason Anna drew her in and made her want to know more about her. Logan liked that this book had his wife so intrigued because now he didn't have to worry about getting her 'I'm bored' text messages halfway through the day. At the present moment Logan had to work on getting her to put the book down or they were going to be late for dinner.

"Ace come on we have to get ready to go." Rory acted like she hadn't even heard him. Logan laughed.

"Rory seriously we have to get going. Stephanie demanded that we be on time because she and Colin have something that they want to tell us." That got his wife's attention.Rory placed her book down and went to get ready. The weekly dinners started after five of the six friends graduated from Yale. At first they happened once a month, then when Rory graduated and Finn and Katie got married they started to happen regularly. The six of them use to go out to restaurants but once Connor came into the picture, followed two years later by Richie and Rebecca, it was decided that staying in would be much easier. The three couples took turns having everyone over at each other's houses and this week it was Katie and Finn's turn. It took the Huntzberger family about thirty minutes to reach the exquisite Morgan-Rothschild home. Rory loved Katie and Finn's house. She had been with Katie when she found the place. Katie had just found out that she was having twins and decided that they needed more space. And she was determined to find it before the babies were born. When she saw this house it didn't look like much but Katie fell in love with it. When Finn saw it he told his wife that there was no way the house would be finished by the time the twins came, but Katie was going to prove him wrong. And prove him wrong she did. She hired people to tend to the yard and pool. She asked Connor and Riley what rooms they wanted, and then had them painted along with the two nurseries. While all that was going happening on the top two floors of the house, hardwood floors and tile were being put in on the main floor. By the time her due date rolled around all that was left to do were the outside patios and put a basketball hoop in downstairs. Not much changed with the house in the last four years except for the Cayden and Amy's rooms. Every time they came here Rory said she wanted a home like this. This caused Logan to ask her if she wanted to start looking for a new place but there was something holding her back from saying yes each time he asked. Rory loved the place they were in now, it wasn't small but it also didn't have five floors of space and two acres of land for her kids to play on. The place they were in now was close to both of their jobs and the kid's school. But with Ryan coming soon the house they had in Hartford would be cramped. It had four bedrooms but the last bedroom had always been a play room for Richie and Julie. That had to change when Rory found out she was pregnant. The master bedroom doubled as Logan's office when he needed to work from home. So as they drove up to the Morgan-Rothschild house and Rory admired it as she always did the young mother made a decision.

"I think it's time to start looking for a bigger house." Her husband just gave her a look as to ask her if she was serious.

"Are you being serious Rory? Because I have no problem doing that, I have been telling you for four years that we can find a place a little outside the city like this and commute."

"I know you have but it really hasn't made any sense to leave a perfectly good house until now. I mean with Ryan coming the house is going to seem a little smaller and wouldn't it be great if we could find a place with enough room for each of the kids to have their own space? For you to have an office and a yard that they can play in?"

"Yeah that would be great Ace. Let's talk about it later alright and go see what Steph and Colin have to tell us." The smell of Katie's chicken parmesan greeted them as Connor opened the door for the Huntzbergers.

"Hi Connor how is it going buddy?" Logan asked the eight year old.

"Great Uncle Logan guess what? I made the basketball team!" the blue-eyed little boy told him.

"That's great kiddo." Rory and Logan continued their way to the kitchen while Richie and Julie went off to play with Connor, Rebecca, Riley, Cayden, and Amy. When they entered the kitchen they were greeted by the sight of Katie trying to stir something while Finn had his arms wrapped around her waist. Colin was sitting at the table trying to calm an over excited Stephanie who, upon seeing them, jumped up from her spot on her husband's lap.

"You're here! Finally now I can tell you our news I have been waiting forever." Colin rolled his eyes.

"Babe you have not been waiting forever. Just a couple of days." Stephanie stuck her tongue out at him, while Rory sat down and Logan got a beer.

"Colin do you not understand that sometimes when you can't wait to tell people something that a couple of days can feel like forever? Especially where your wife is concerned." Katie asked her brother as she turned away from the stove.

"Yes Katie I do realize this. Now are you going to tell them or not Babe?" Colin answered as Finn and Katie joined them at the table. Stephanie looked at the faces of her family waiting to hear what she had to say.

"I'm pregnant." The blond announced with a smile. For a brief moment the six friends were silent. Katie and Rory were the first to recover.

"Oh my goodness! I am going to be an aunt again. Finally. When are you due? What do you think you are having? And have you told Becca yet?"

"Finally it's about time the two of you added another kid to this group."

"I know I am really excited. End of August/Early September. I hope a boy and no we haven't had a chance to tell her yet." Stephanie grinned as she answered their questions. Logan and Finn gave the happy couple a hug and a congrats. While Katie got dinner for the kids on the table and finished up her marinara sauce she remembered something.

"Wait a minute. That means when you were sick last month you weren't really sick but having morning sickness. That is all you had? I hate you." She told her sister in law with a laugh.

"I guess I got lucky this time around." The three women got their children settled down for supper and then got ready to sit down themselves. All through dinner the six friends caught up on each other's lives since they last saw each other. They talked about the baby a little bit more with Colin and Stephanie. Logan and Rory told them of their plans to look at bigger houses. Towards the end of the meal Logan started to tease his wife about her latest book.

"She hasn't put it down for four days. It is amusing."

"What else is there for me to do Logan? Nothing so I am going to read."

"What are you reading Rory?"

"It is really interesting because it is about this rich girl, named Anna, who hates being rich. What I can't decide however is if it is fiction or not. You know how some people write their life stories but change a bunch of names and call it fiction? Well I can't decide if that is one of those or not. I'm mean it seems like it. But if it is true I am so jealous she got to spend Christmas in Ireland with her two best friends." Something about the book Rory was describing seemed familiar to Katie.

"What year does this take place in?"

"Um well she started out saying something about 1980 being when her story starts but then she takes that back and says it started when she was eight. Which was in 1967 why?"

"I don't know it just feels like I have heard this story before. It takes place in Ireland?"

"No it starts out in Hartford, and then she goes to boarding school where she meets her two best friends who are from Ireland and she goes there to have Christmas with them because her own family canceled their regular plans."

"I know I have heard that story before I just can't remember where. Colin do you have any ideas?"

"No why would I?"

"I just had a feeling you might have." Her brother said he had no idea. After promising to lend her the book when she was done and collecting her kids the Huntzbergers and McCrea's said their goodbyes.

**Ok so I hope you liked it. I would like to know who ya'll think the author is. I'm sorry that it is so short. I don't think that this story will be very long. Who knows though? I hope to maybe have another chapter up tomorrow because I am off of work and have nothing to do but laundry. Lastly I would like to give a shot out to Kylie14: I'm glad I have got your interest. And another shot out to JoPo: Your reviews never fail to bring a smile to my face and thank you for answering my random questions. Please send me you thoughts.**

**Brianna**


	3. A Birth and A Death

Something was bothering Katie. This wasn't unusual because something was always bothering her, but it usually had to do with her kids, husband, or something at work. The thing that was bugging her at the moment had nothing to do with the kids, Finn, or work. No. What was bothering the young mother had everything to do with Rory's book. There was something familiar about the story and she couldn't put her finger on it. She had a feeling that it was something from years ago, which is why she asked her brother about it. For three weeks she had been barely able to think of anything but where she had heard that story before. And the last three dinners the group had Katie always asked what else had happened in that Book. Last week before she even had the chance to ask Rory her question the brunette handed the book to her saying she was finished with it. Katie was so excited to finally be able to read it that she had to stop herself from opening it right away. When she finally got the chance to start it, it was the next day at lunch. Ever since she had a hard time putting it down and the feeling she had that she knew the story just got worse. Katie was just waiting for something to happen in the book that would trip her memory and let her figure out where she knew it from. She had a feeling it was going to happen soon, or maybe it was just hope that it would. This is why she found herself grumbling at the phone when it rang, interrupting her reading.

"Hey Katie could you do us a huge favor and pick up Richie and Julie when you go get the twins?" Logan asked her.

"Yeah sure but I thought Rory was picking them up. Why Richie he doesn't get out at the same time as the other three?"

"Yes well my son has decided to grace us with his presence a couple of weeks early so Rory can't pick them up. Lorelai is meeting us at the hospital and Rory wants the kids here so we are pulling him out early. You don't have to worry about calling the school I already did that and they will let Richie go at the same time as the preschoolers. I really appreciate this Katie got to go Bye" Katie barely had time to let his words sink in before he hung up. Glancing at the clock she realized that she needed to leave soon to pick the kids up. After getting her stuff together, locking the house, and sending a text to Finn, Colin, and Steph she was on her way to go meet the newest member of the family.

_After my talk with Chad that day I actually started to feel like a member of Mary's family. I started to drift farther and farther from my blood relations. Hartford stopped feeling like home and I found myself calling Ireland home. The summer after my first year of boarding school was spent in Ireland. Mary, Chris and I did everything and nothing. Sometimes we would just hang out at the house, but other times we found ourselves wandering through town. I had my first date that summer. He didn't make me weak in the knees but I enjoyed his company, we are friends to this day. That was also the summer that things started to change between Chris and Mary. Of course neither one of them realized things were changing. I think Mary started falling first. We had decided to have a party at the lake and we invited anyone and everyone. Chris was showing off for some girls by doing dives off the side of a cliff. Mary kept staring at him when she thought nobody was looking. Then later when we were back at school Mary decided that Chris would never feel the same way that she did and started dating. He was one of the rich kids but not one of the players. He seemed to really like her and treated her well. Chris and Dan never got along. At first Chris was convinced that Dan was going to treat Mary like dirt. Then when it was apparent that that wasn't true he just glared every time they were in the same room together. Mary really liked Dan and I have always believed that if it hadn't been for Chris then maybe they would have lasted longer than they did. They were together for almost a year. They broke up right before Christmas of our third year in school. We were all hanging out in the courtyard and the boys were fighting again. Mary was trying to get them to stop but it wasn't working. The fight got so bad that Mary finally yelled at Chris._

_"What in the bloody hell is your problem? What don't you like about him? He is not a bad person and I like him. Why can't you just accept that and let me be happy?" The two of them were standing a foot apart glaring at each other._

_"You really want to know what my problem is. Before this guy came along everything was great. It was just us and that was the way I liked it. Except for having to share you with Anna I got to have you all to myself . I got to hang out with you every day. I got to make you laugh and see you smile. When you smile at me I feel like that smile is just for me and no one else. You are my favorite person in the whole world. But then you meet Dan and something changes. All of a sudden when you smile my favorite smile its not me you're looking at but at him. I don't have you all to myself anymore and I hate it. I hate that I'm feeling like this because it upsets you. I hate that it took another guy to make me realize that I want to call you mine. I hate that it took Dan to make me realize that I love you." Mary had tears in her eyes as she listened to Chris and for a second it looked like she was going to forgive him. Then she looked at her boyfriend next her and her face changed. She whipped her head around to face Chris again and she was beyond pissed._

_"How dare you! Who the hell do you think you are? You love me? Now you love me? Well you know what you are too late. I don't love you. I have a wonderful boyfriend and you want to know what? I am pretty sure that I hate you at this moment. You have some nerve telling me that you love me. I think you should just stay out of my life for a while." Mary turned around and walked away taking Dan with her. Chris looked so heartbroken. I started to go over to him but he shook his head at me. It was as if he was telling me to stick by Mary, that he would be fine without me. Over the next couple of days the two of them didn't speak at all. Mary spent almost every minute with Dan and I, trying to pretend that we were enough. That she wasn't missing Chris. Finally after the second day of Mary pretending to be happy and failing, Dan took her aside. He told her that he liked her and was beginning to love her but he couldn't be with someone whose heart belonged to someone else. Mary tried to tell him that her heart was his but Dan refused to listen. He told her that he was sorry and that he wanted to be friends. Mary just kicked him out of our room. That night she asked me if we could go to Hartford for the holidays. I was surprised but agreed anyway. I knew she needed to get away._

_There really wasn't anything special going on at my house for Christmas but Mary was determined to have a good time. She even went as far as playing a game with Mark and Angela, my youngest siblings. She even insisted that we go with Michael to a party one of his friends was having. I caught her making out with one of my brother's drunken friends. That was when I decided enough was enough. I pulled her out of there so fast that we were in the car on the way to my parent's house before she even realized what happened._

_"What are you doing Mary this isn't like you." I asked her concerned._

_"I felt like doing something so I did."_

_"Ok wanting to do something is one thing but making out with Michael's drunken friends is not a good idea." She just shrugged her shoulders at me. When we got back to school Mary and Chris still weren't speaking. They didn't speak for the rest of the semester. By the time summer rolled around I was tired of my two best friends not speaking to one another so I decided that the three of us were going on a trip. The two of them weren't happy about it but I didn't give them any room to say no. We spent the summer traveling across Europe and much to my surprise ran into Michael in Italy. We only had to share the house with him for two nights but it was two nights too long for me._

_"You have weird friends sis." He said to me after dinner on the first night. I looked at the two of them out on the balcony. Chris was glaring at the horizon, while Mary was pretending to read a book._

_"You think that people in pain is weird?" I asked my brother angrily. He laughed and shook his head._

_"No I don't. What I think is weird is that you are forcing them to hang out after breaking up."_

_"What makes you think they broke up or were ever even together?"_

_"Because he came to the house at Christmas. You know the morning after the party. I told him that she had moved on because I saw her making out with Nick." I glared at my brother suddenly having the urge to strangle him._

_"She did not move on! You asshole! What right do you have messing with other people's lives? You know what Michael I think you should stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours ok?"_

_"Yeah whatever Anna, you know someday you're going to have to realize that this life you pretend to hate so much is not that bad. Yeah certain things could be different but I don't think you could live without the money. I know that you love taking these kinds of trips and you couldn't do that without the money. I think someday you are going to find yourself back here. See you around sis." My brother left the next day and I didn't see him again for a while. I learned later that he apologized to Mary and Chris. I knew that on some level he was right about me liking the money, but I didn't want to admit that he was right. So I became determined to prove him wrong._

_After Michael left Chris and Mary made up, I mean really made up. They told each other how they felt and became attached at the hip. They were so obviously in love and did all the cutesy 'I'm in love and going to let the whole world know' stuff. If it had been any other couple it would have bugged the hell out of me, but since it was my two best friends it didn't bother me so much. After Italy the three of us went back to Ireland and had a wonderful summer together just like we use to before Chris and Mary fell in love with each other. Chad, who was home from college, even hung out with us. Chad became one of my best friends that summer. I had always been close with Mary's family, ever since the first time I came to visit them but I was never as close to them I was to Mary and Chris. That changed that summer. Mary told me that Chad never came home during the summer that he usually found a job close to school and worked. But apparently he couldn't find a job that summer so he came home to work in the family restaurant and when he wasn't working he hung out with us. _

"_Chad why all of a sudden are you hanging out with us? I love you, you know I do but you never use to like hanging around us." Mary asked her brother one afternoon._

"_To tell you the truth I do like hanging with you guys. You three are the only ones around here that are somewhat entertaining, plus I have to keep an eye on Romeo over there and make sure he is treating my baby sister right." Chad told her with a grin. Mary just rolled her eyes at him. I'm not sure she actually believed him, a part of me thought she suspected Chad was spending time with us for a different reason but she never told me if she did and no matter how hard I tried to pick up on it I could never figure it out on my own. I did spend a lot of time with Chad on my own. It was mostly when Chris and Mary went off to be by themselves. I found myself wandering down by the lake just thinking about how things were changing and more often than not Chad joined me. Sometimes we talked, sometimes we didn't. But when we did talk I found myself telling him things about my family and how I was afraid to graduate because I didn't know what the future held. I talked to him about stuff that I hadn't told Mary because she didn't want to hear it. _

"_You know it will all work out right?" he asked me one afternoon towards the end of summer._

"_What will work out?"_

"_Your life. I know that you aren't the biggest fan of your family and the world that they live in but it will work out. When you graduate you will go to college because that is what will make your parents happy. But after college there is nothing saying that you can't do what you want. If you want to work then you will, no matter what your parents say. If you want to get married and have babies then you will. It will work itself out you'll see." I smiled._

"_Thanks Chad." I hugged him. I hoped that he was right but couldn't bare to tell him that I didn't think he was. Chad didn't know what it was like and no matter how much I told him about it he would never really know unless he experienced it. When he told me things like that it helped calm my fears a little but not completely. After my talks with Chad I felt a little bit better about the future for a while but when senior year started nothing could calm my fears. Mary and Chris tried to get me to relax because we were suppose to enjoy senior year, not flip out about it. I tried to relax and I did manage to a little for the first few weeks but a phone call from my parents changed that._

"_Anna we know that you have been enjoying yourself these last few years but you need to understand young lady that you will be expected to go to college in the fall. And your mother and I expect you to come home and go to school. Europe is alright for high school but you come from a highly respected family and as a member of this family you will go to Yale. Do you understand?"_

"_Yes dad I do."_

"_Good. I have a meeting so I'm going to go. I'll talk to you soon." This wasn't the first time I had had this conversation with my father but it was the first time I wanted to tell him no, that I didn't understand. I wanted nothing more than to go somewhere else for college, somewhere far away from my family but I knew that if my parents were going to pay for it then I had no other choice then to go to a school back home. I hated the idea of going back to the states, of going back to my parent's world. But I wanted to go to college so I did what was expected of me I applied to all the schools I was expected too. I kept it from my friends though, the two of them were so happy that I didn't want to bring them down. I did tell Chad though. We were all home for the holidays and the three of us were being asked about college. Chris and Mary talked about where they applied to and what their plans were. I managed to say something about applying to some of the same schools that my two friends did and some in the states. Which wasn't a lie, I did apply to some of the schools they did my father agreed to let me as back up choices. What I hadn't told them was that I wouldn't be going to the same school as them. I excused myself a few minutes later and walked down to the lake. Chad followed me._

"_So you want to tell me what's bothering you?" I hadn't heard him follow me so I jumped when his voice broke through the silence._

"_What makes you think anything is bothering me?" He came to sit next to me on the dock before responding._

"_Because you were using your rich people voice. The one you use when you are talking to someone from school or your family. And Mary said something to me about it." I looked at him like he was crazy. _

"_Don't look at me like that Anna. My sister isn't stupid or as wrapped up in a world of her own with Chris like you think. She knows something is bothering you but figured you would tell her in your own time like you usually do. But it's been months and you haven't said anything to her. She called me at school to ask if you had said anything to me. So please tell one of us what's bothering you maybe we can help." I sighed of course Mary had noticed she was my best friend._

"_I'm going to Yale."_

"_That's great Anna! Did you get in early acceptance or something?"_

"_No but my entire family has gone to Yale for as long as anyone can remember and as a part of that family I am expected to go too. It's the only way my parents will pay for college. It's not that Yale is a bad school or anything it's just that I would love to go to a school with her and Chris. And I'm also afraid that if I go back there I won't make it out. Somehow while I'm going to school my parents will find a way to trap me in their world and I don't know if I will be able to handle that."_

"_Oh. Anna I think you are over thinking this just a little. Yes I know what your parents want for you and that you want to break free of that but I think that knowing exactly what you want gives you an advantage."_

"_How?"_

"_Well you can go over there and get a good education. Major in what you want and during the holidays you can come back here and spend time with your friends. You might even make new ones while you're there and if you have to do some things with your parents then you will. They won't trap you because you won't let them and if it seems like they are starting to trap you just say the word and I will come pull you out of here. I promise."_

"_How is it that you always know what to say to make me feel better?"_

"_I don't know it just comes to me. Now I think you should stop flipping out about this and enjoy what's left of your senior year, oh and talk to my sister about this."_

"_I will." I promised him giving him a hug. The two of us just kind of sat there for a while in the silence; occasionally one of us would say something but for the most part we just enjoyed each other's company. That was the last time I got to spend any real alone time with Chad for a while._

_As promised I told Chris and Mary everything and they came up with a plan for us to have fun together before I left for Hell as they liked to call it. I enjoyed the rest of my senior year with my friends, we did most of the stuff we use to before they became a couple we even had a party to celebrate when our college acceptance letters came. We pretended that all of us were going to the same school next year and made our plans as if that were true. I will always remember those last few months of school as the best of my life. Of course it couldn't last; something had to bring us back to reality. It happened a week before graduation. The faculty advisor for our dorm came in to tell me I had a phone call. I figured it would be my father telling me some excuse as to why he couldn't make it to my graduation. I was half right._

"_Hello."_

"_Anna its Michael."_

"_Ok what can I do for you?" He sounded weird. I had never heard my brother talk like this before but then again I hadn't seen or heard from my brother in almost a year. And not once in the four years I had been away at school had he called me. So to hear his voice on the other end of the line was a little weird._

"_Anna you need to come home. There's been an accident." Those words made my blood run cold. Accident? What kind of accident and who was hurt? Angela? Mark? Mom? Dad? All of these questions ran through my mind when Michael said those words._

"_What kind of accident? Who was hurt?"_

"_A car accident and mom was killed." For the first time in years I felt the urge to cry about something that had to do with my family. I hadn't cried over something connected to them since I was eight. And just because I didn't like the way my family lived didn't mean that I didn't love them. I did love my family and losing my mother so unexpectedly crushed me._

"_I'll be on the next flight out." I told my brother before hanging up. I made my way back to my room lost in thought. It was empty when I got there. The three of us had been planning on doing something that night so I figured that was where Chris and Mary were. I started packing my things and told the faculty advisor why I was leaving; she helped me book a flight. It would be leaving in the morning. I was just about done when Mary and Chris came in._

"_Anna what happened to you I thought you were going to meet us? And why are you all packed up we don't have to leave until Friday?" Mary asked me. I was in a trance and had been since my conversation with Michael so it took me a minute to realize she was talking to me._

"_My mother died." I told them matter of factly. They acted the way most concerned friends do and told me that if I needed anything to just call. I told them I would and apologized for canceling our summer plans. They said not to worry about it and each gave me a hug before I left. My flight was too long and at the same time not long enough. I hadn't been to Hartford in two years and the last thing I expected was to be coming back for my mother's funeral. During my flight I tried to remember the last time I saw my mother but instead remembered something she told me years ago after my grandmother died._

"Anna when the matriarch in the family passes away it is the next oldest woman's responsibility to take her place. Your grandmother didn't have any daughters so as her only son's wife I am now the matriarch of the family and someday you will be too."

_That had been around the time of the park incident and I was just beginning to realize that I didn't want to belong to this world. She had told me that she believed that I would be able to hold this family together if she were to die suddenly. At the time I didn't want to think about my mother being gone and now that she was I didn't want to hold the family together but somebody had to be strong for Mark and Angela. Who knew how Michael was going to handle it and they shouldn't have to do this alone. So I made the decision to hold myself together for my two younger siblings. I was surprised to see my brother when I stepped off the plane._

_"Hey Anna how was your flight?" Michael greeted me as if we had a normal brother and sister relationship._

_"It was as good as can be expected. What are you doing here? Dad usually sends a car for me."_

_"Well to tell you the truth I had to get out of the house. Dad isn't taking this so well and is taking it out on everybody in sight. I feel bad for his assistant." We had started walking to get my bags at this point._

_"Why do you feel bad for his assistant?"_

_"She is helping him plan the service and is at the receiving end of most of it."_

_"Oh ok." The car trip to the house was silent. After we got home and I had unpacked my stuff in my childhood room I went to see my father. He was in his study with his assistant and in a terrible mood, just like Michael said he was. They were trying to write the obituary and he was yelling something at her when I walked in. I asked her to leave us alone and went over to give my dad a hug._

_"Daddy what you have written is perfect, mom would have loved it." My dad stopped yelling for a second to look at me. He gave me a sad smile before returning my hug._

_"I know princess it's just nothing seems right and she deserves to have everything be perfect because she was perfect." He told me before crying on my shoulder. I have to admit for a second I was shocked. Never in all of my eighteen years had I ever seen my father cry. He had always been a tough strong man that didn't take bullshit from anybody. It was at that point that things started to change for me._

**Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter to ya'll. After I read the reviews for the last chapter I was so happy that so many people are liking this story that I went to start this right away. But I got stuck half way through and had to stop. The next time I sat down to write I only had inspiration for my Harry Potter and CSI: NY stories.****I hope ya'll like this chapter and as usually please give me your thoughts I love to hear them. And just so you know a couple of ya'll who reviewed are closer to guessing the Author then I think you realize. I still want to know ya'lls guesses.**

**Brianna**


	4. Hell and A Dinner Party

_While sitting in my father's study with him crying on my shoulder I realized that what my mother told me all those years ago was true. My family needed me. So I stayed strong for them. I acted every part the grieving daughter and gracious hostess at the same time. Michael even acted like my brother for a while. My entire family was suddenly everything I had wanted it to be when I was younger. But of course it couldn't last, about a week after the funeral Mark and Angela started spending all their time with their friends. My father insisted on going back to work and Michael said something about it being my turn and took off for parts unknown with his friends. I wondered what Michael had meant by it being my turn and I came to the conclusion that he meant it was my turn to be home. To be the kid that stays in Hartford with the family. I figured he was right so I got use to being back in the world I had escaped from four years earlier. For weeks I felt myself become accustom to the fakeness of society and found it easier to pretend then it was when I was younger. Maybe it was because the numbness of dealing with my mother's death that helped me. I wasn't sure but I did manage to find stuff to do. About half way through the summer I started to look for an apartment near Yale, and a car to use to drive back and forth. I did hear from Mary and Chris but we never talked for long because they were having fun and I think they felt guilty for having a good time when I was stuck in Hartford. I felt a world away from my friends and didn't feel like I could leave my family. So I convinced myself that this was what my life would be like. My friends would slowly start to drift away from me and I would let them because I would feel obligated to stay with my family. Eventually I would make new friends and maybe even get married but I would never be as happy as I was at boarding school._

_It was a few weeks before I started at Yale when my world changed once again. I was in my new apartment unpacking when there was a knock on my door. I found this strange because of how late it was and my family was the only ones that knew where I was moving too. I was shocked even more when I opened the door to find Chad on the other side. He was a welcomed sight. I had forgotten how much I missed my friends until I saw him. As soon as I opened the door he wrapped his arms around me and gave me the best hug in the world. I broke the silence a few minutes later._

_"What are you doing here?" He started to pull away so he could look at me when he spoke but I wouldn't let him._

_"Mary's been telling me that you don't seem to be doing so well here and didn't I promise that I would come rescue you if you needed me too?" I started to cry into his shoulder at this point and he just shut my front door and brought me to the couch. Whispering comforting words as he did so. I don't know what made me start crying but for the first time in a long time I felt that I could just let go and it would be ok. That night I realized how safe and comfortable I was in Chad's arms. As the two of us sat on my couch catching up and talking I started to wonder if I always felt like this around him. I came to the conclusion that I had. It seemed that Chad was always comforting me and what was the most surprising was that I let him. I hadn't realized that I was letting him do that for so long. I didn't know what to do with this new found information but for the next week or so I had the best time in the world with Chad. The entire time he was here we hung out all day and somehow we managed to fall asleep in each other's arms at night. The last couple of days of his visit I started to get sad again. He was leaving and I didn't want him too. He pretended not to notice it because I don't think he wanted to leave either. But on the last night he couldn't ignore it any longer._

_"You want to talk about it?" We were sitting on the couch with our arms wrapped around each other watching a movie._

_"Talk about what?" I didn't want to look at him knowing that if I did I might start to cry. _

_"Come on Anna you know what. I don't want to leave either but I can't stay." He turned his head toward me and put his hand on my chin so that I would look at him._

_"Why not? I don't want to stay here without you. We could run away just me and you. Go anywhere do anything." He pulled me to his chest and pressed a kiss to my forehead._

_"You don't know how wonderful that sounds but you have to go to college and I have to finish college. You know that. We both have responsibilities and as much as I would love to runaway with you we can't." I pulled myself away from his chest to look up at him. As he looked down at me I noticed an emotion in his eyes that I had never seen before. What I didn't notice was how close his mouth was to mine or his eyes briefly glance to my lips._

_"Please we don't have to go forever just a little while. Please Chad don't leave me." I whispered this last request to him. Something in him seemed to snap when I said this because instead of answering me he did something else. He kissed me. I was a little surprised at first but then I kissed him back. His lips felt even better than his arms and the feelings that washed over me as he kissed me felt wonderful. I loved they way he kissed so much that I never wanted him to stop and it seemed like he felt the same way. While our lips had been busy on each other's mouths, our hands had been busy elsewhere. Mine had reached up and wrapped around his neck, while his went around my waist. When we broke apart to breath he started in on my jaw line before moving down to my neck. It felt so good that a groan escaped my mouth as I ran my fingers through his hair. These two things seemed to encourage him and before I knew it his lips were on mine again. As we kissed I felt the sudden need to be closer to him which is why I wrapped my legs around him and pressed into him. This caused him to groan and break our kiss._

_"Oh god Anna! If you expected me to stop anytime soon I'm gonna need you to not do that." I noticed that his accent was much thicker when he said this in a breathy whisper. I shot him a grin before responding._

_"Who said I wanted you to stop?" This caused him to groan again, pick me up off the couch and take me in the direction of my bedroom kissing me the whole way._

Katie still couldn't remember where she had heard this story before but she knew she had heard it or one a lot like it. Finn thought it was amusing that she couldn't put the book down. He told her that he didn't think he could remember her ever being that interested in a book. She did make herself put it down though after losing so much track of time when she first started it Katie decided that she needed some will power when it came to the book. So she let herself read it on her lunch break at work and after spending some quality time with her family picked back up for an hour or so before bed. She wished she could figure out what it was about Anna that had her so enthralled. Everything that had been happening to Anna made Katie feel like it was happening to her. Like when Anna's mother died, Katie cried for a while before starting to think about her own mother.

Katie didn't remember her mother and her father never talked about her. When she was little Katie came up with this idea that her mother had died in some terrible way that it crushed her father, the same way Anna's dad reacted to his wife's death. And that was the reason her dad never talked about her mother or why they never saw her. She had had herself, and maybe Colin and their friends too, convinced that is what happened. Until one day when she was about eight she got the nerve to ask her father about her mother.

_**"Daddy is mommy an angel in heaven?" Eight year old Katie McCrea asked her father. Andrew looked at his daughter confused as to why she was asking him this question.**_

_**"Why on earth would you think your mother was an angel Katie?"**_

_**"Cause she doesn't come to see me and Colin ever and you don't like to talk about her. If she isn't an angel then where is she?"**_

_**"She left sweetie. Right after Colin and you turned one." **_

_**"Why did she leave and where did she go?" Andrew sighed. He knew one day one of them was going to start asking these questions.**_

_**"I think she lives in Europe somewhere and she left because she didn't love me anymore."**_

_**"Oh where's Europe?" Andrew felt that if he explained about Europe being a bunch of different countries to her it would only spark more questions and he didn't have time for that. So he pointed to a spot on his globe.**_

_**"It's right there sweetie. Now why don't you go play with Stephanie so I can finish my work?" Katie gave her father a kiss and left his office.**_

Andrew McCrea had no idea that when he told Katie why her mother left that she got confused and thought it meant that her mother stopped loving her and her brother. To this day Katie was convinced that her mother abandoned them. The young woman wasn't the biggest fan of her mother and told Colin and her friends all the time that she never wanted to meet her. She didn't even want to know the woman's name. Her entire family knew how she felt about her mother and did their best not to mention her. It wasn't very hard to do because Katie wasn't the only McCrea to get pissed off when she was mentioned. Andrew was very moody when the subject of his ex-wife came up. Katie sighed and looked at the clock on the wall. She had to start getting ready for tonight. Tonight most of the family was coming over so they could meet Ryan. A few days after he was born Rory mentioned wanting to get the family together so that they could all meet him at once. She was talking mostly about the Huntzberger side of the family but Colin and Stephanie jumped on the bandwagon saying this would be the perfect time to tell the family that she was pregnant. So Katie offered to host the party because her and Finn had the most space. She was about to start making dinner when the doorbell rang. She started to worry that someone was early but stopped when she opened the door and realized it was Rory.

"Hey I thought that I would come by early and see what I can do to help." Katie smiled at her.

"I was actually just about to start cooking you can help with that if you like. Where's Ryan?" Katie asked when she noticed that Rory was by herself. It had become a habit in the Morgan-Rothschild and Huntzberger families for each parent to take at least one child if they were driving separately. Katie had started it after Riley was born and Rory picked it up after having Julie. Sometimes it was much easier to deal with the kids one at a time then all together. Now that Katie and Finn had the twins they tried their best not to drive separately but when they did they each took two kids. So it wasn't unusual for Katie to assume that Rory would have brought her newborn son with her.

"Oh Logan said that he could handle all three kids at once. I know he is good with them but I don't think Ryan has been around long enough for him to be that good. I expect him to call a little later asking for help. Where are your munchkins?"

"Finn went through that after we had the twins and when he called me to ask for my help he was practically in tears. Downstairs playing basketball and trying to pretend mommy didn't tell them to go get cleaned up." Rory laughed and was about to respond when someone else beat her to it.

"I was not almost in tears love stop being so dramatic. And all four rug rats are in their bedrooms getting ready. Hi Rory." Finn said coming into the kitchen and giving his wife a kiss.

"Yes you were and what do you think you are doing mister? I need you to go get ready too. Our families will be here in an hour Finn. I need tonight to go smoothly ok and in order for tonight to go smoothly I need you to be on your best behavior. Do you think you can do that?" Katie said slightly freaking out at her husband. Finn rolled his eyes at his wife. He loved her he really did but she always freaked out a little too much when the family came over.

"Katie I am always on my best behavior. Tonight will go smoothly ok. Now stop freaking out and remember that I love you." Finn told her before kissing her again on his way to go get ready. Fifteen minutes later Finn was ready for a night of family and came upstairs just in time to open the door to Stephanie. Kissing her cheek hello he sent her into the kitchen where Katie and Rory were cooking dinner knowing she came early to help out. After making sure the kids were ok by themselves he joined the three women in the kitchen.

"So Katie who is all coming to this again?" Stephanie asked her sister in law.

"Well there are Rory's people. Meaning Lorelai, Luke, Richard, Emily, and Christopher. The Huntzberger half, Elias, Mitchum, Shira, Honor, Josh, Jane, and Adam. The Vanderbuilts which of course you know, Nate and Vanessa. Andrew of course thank god he is between wives. The Morgan-Rothschild's will also be well represented by Jennifer, Amelia, and Jordan."

"I didn't know your brother and sister were in town Finn I love them."

"Yeah I know you do Rory. I actually think that Jordan made up a business meeting so he could romance my marketing director and that Mia tagged along because she hasn't met the twins yet." Finn said rolling his eyes.

"Babe I'm sorry to break it to you but I think you are going to lose Kellie."

"Yeah I figured as much and I'm ok with that but Jordan better give her time to train someone to take her place before he goes proposing or something. Now that I think about it she might be coming tonight Katie."

"She is coming and so is Devon so you be nice." Finn made a face at that.

"Who is Devon?" Stephanie asked

"Devon is a concierge at The Prince that Mia is crazy about and Finn doesn't like the fact that his baby sister is all grown up so he tends to be all overprotective big brother around him. Jordan isn't even that bad."

"Yeah well the only reason Jordan isn't that bad is because he is too distracted by Kellie." They all started laughing at Finn but were interrupted when London Calling started to play. Rory smiled and sent Katie a look.

"I told you he would call." She told her friend before answering her phone. Stephanie looked confused.

"Katie what is she talking about?" Katie just shushed her before listening to Rory's side of the conversation.

"Hey hon. What's the problem?"

"No Logan I told you that you have to put Ryan in last because he is the easiest. Richie will get in by himself and Julie is always squirmy when she goes into her seat. Before you left the house Ryan should have been in the car seat so that way you can put him down for a second and Richie can watch him while you get Julie strapped in. Once Julie is in you and Richie go around to the other side of the car and let Richie get in, then once he is in you put Ryan in. You think you can do that?"

"Ok good I'll see you in a little bit I love you." While Rory was on the phone with Logan Honor, Josh and their kids arrived.

"Hey Rory it has been too long since I last saw you. Wow you look good for someone who just had a baby six weeks ago. I wish I looked that good after giving birth." Honor said coming in to the kitchen and giving her sister in law a hug.

"Thanks Honor I missed you too. Josh how are you?"

"I'm good thanks for asking Rory. How is Mini Logan the second?"

"Ryan is definitely his father's son." The young mother responded.

"Auntie Rory where is the new baby?" Rory looked down at her niece with a smile.

"He's on his way with your Uncle Logan and your other two cousins." This answer seemed to satisfy young Jane who then asked her mother if she and Adam could go play with the other kids. Honor watched her children go before taking a seat at the dining room table next to her husband.

"Logan has all three kids Rory? By himself?"

"Yeah he said he could handle it."

"And we were just about to ask her why his ringtone is London Calling when you guys showed up." Katie told the blond.

"That is still his ringtone! I thought you were going to change it Rory." Rory rolled her eyes at her friends.

"Well I was but he asked me not too. After he came back from London I couldn't find my phone so he called it with his and when he heard what his ringtone was he thought it was a lot better then what it used to be and begged me not to change it."

"Why what was his ringtone before that?" Stephanie asked which caused Finn to start laughing.

"Um it was a country song called Come On Over Tonight." Rory told the group and that caused Finn to start laughing harder. None of them noticed Colin and Logan come into the room.

"Who are we making fun of?" Colin asked the group. Everyone turned to look at the two men who just came in. When Finn saw Logan standing there with baby Ryan he continued to laugh. Colin saw this and it seemed to answer his question.

"What exactly are we making fun of Logan for?" This time nobody paid him any attention, instead they got up to start fawning over Ryan. After a minute Logan started to get crowded.

"Ladies, Ladies please I know he is adorable but can you give me some room for a minute so I can do a couple of things?"

"What do you need to do Huntzberger?" Katie asked him.

"First of all I need to kiss my wife, get a beer, sit down and ask Finn what the hell he is laughing at."

"Logan! Please don't curse around Ryan and I thought we had three kids so why did you only come in with one?"

"We do have three Ace. The other two ran off with Becca to go play with the other kids." While Logan and Rory were talking Katie, Stephanie, and Honor were talking to the baby.

"Are going to be ready to do this again in five months babe?" Colin asked his wife causing Honor to look at her in surprise.

"Yeah definitely."

"Ms. Stephanie when were you going to tell us you were pregnant?" Honor asked her friend. Stephanie smiled at the older woman.

"Tonight actually and I'm surprised you couldn't tell I'm starting to show a little."

"Yes but when you where that outfit Steph no one can see your stomach." Katie told her.

"Well congratulations."

"Thank you I'm really excited."

"Yes we are all excited that Colin and Steph are going to be parents again but what I want to know is what Finn was laughing at?" Logan stated. Finn, who had stopped laughing, started again.

"Actually Rory was explaining to us why your ringtone was still London Calling and she said it was because you liked that one better than the one you had before, which caused Finn to suddenly start laughing. And before we could ask either one of them to explain why that song as your ringtone was so funny you, Colin, and Ryan came in distracting us." Katie told her friend. Logan's eyes went wide at the mention of his ringtone and Rory rolled her eyes.

"I don't know why you didn't like it. I thought it was cute." Rory told her husband.

"I want to know what the lyrics are." Honor announced. This caused Rory to go get her phone so she could play it. The table grew quiet as they listened to the song coming from Rory's phone.

_**"You know I'm stubborn, set in my ways, said I'd never fall in love, used all the old clichés. But just now when you called and my heart rate hit the roof I realized it's time to eat my words and face the truth. So come on over tonight we'll sit on the swing watch the pigs fly by flappin' their brand new wings just sit back and relax and watch me eat my hat while the oak trees sprout dollar bills and I look you in the eye to finally say the words I swore I'd never say in my whole life so come on over tonight." **_

Colin and Finn tried to control their laughter but couldn't. After listening to it no one else could understand what the two men found so funny about it. But before anyone could ask them they were interrupted once again.

"Alright where is he? I want to see my new grandbaby." They heard from the entry way.

"Lorelai honestly do you have to shout? It's rude to shout when you're a guest in someone's home."

"Mom Katie and Finn's house is normally loud they have four children." The group couldn't help but laugh at the sound of Rory's mother and grandmother arguing. When the group of five entered the dining room Lorelai went straight for baby Ryan who was sitting happily on his dad's lap.

"Oh my look at you baby boy. You have gotten cuter since the last time I saw you." Lorelai cooed to Ryan, who just grinned toothlessly at her.

"Oh I see how it is; you love Ryan more than me your only daughter. You don't even say hi any more just go straight for my baby." Rory said to her mother.

"Sorry kid but you weren't this cute when you were born. I mean don't get me wrong you were adorable but that husband of yours is much better looking than your dad was so that automatically makes for cuter offspring." The older woman joked with her daughter.

"Hey I'm standing right here Lorelai!" Christopher said.

"Sorry Chris you know I'm only kidding. Now get your but over here and meet your new grandson." Christopher rolled his eyes as he walked over to his daughter and grandson.

"Well aren't you a cute kid. I'm your pop, please don't call me gramps like your brother and sister do it makes me feel old." Christopher told baby Ryan.

"Dad no matter how hard you try you will forever be gramps so get over it. Hey Luke why don't you come say hi to Ryan?" Rory said noticing her step-father. Christopher smiled at his daughter before moving out of the way so Luke could see the baby.

"Yes well gramps I may be but at least I'm not grandpa." Luke rolled his eyes.

"For kids as adorable as Rory and Logan's are I would let them call me old man and for your information Christopher gramps is just as bad as grandpa." The diner owner told him.

"Would you two stop fighting for one minute so I can say hello to my new great grandson?" Emily scolded the two men while pushing him out of the way.

"Oh Rory his beautiful. You don't mind if I hold him do you Logan?" Emily gushed over Ryan.

"Thanks grandma." Rory said smiling at the sight of her grandmother holding her son. Emily took Ryan from his father's arms and went to stand by her husband.

"Look Richard isn't he handsome. He looks just like I knew he would." Richard smiled down at baby Ryan.

"Well hello there Ryan. You are just the perfect combination of your parents yes you are."

"Um Mrs. Gilmore how did you know that Ryan would look like that?" Katie asked the older woman.

"It's Katie right?" Katie's nod confirmed Emily's statement.

"Years ago when Rory and Logan started dating I looked at Richard and asked him if he could imagine Logan's blond hair and Rory's blue eyes on a baby. So when Rory got pregnant with Richie I figured or hoped rather that he would have blond hair and blue eyes. Of course he decided to take after his daddy instead and have brown eyes and blond hair. When she got pregnant with Julie I hoped for the same thing but little Julie decided that she wanted her mommy's hair and her daddy's eyes. When Rory called to tell us she was pregnant with Ryan I looked at Richard and told him that this baby would have blue eyes and blond hair. And I was right." After Emily's story the group picked up their conversation from before the Gilmore's arrived. After briefly catching the new arrivals up of course.

"So after Rory cornered him about her article he came over to our dorm and started pacing back and forth. We tried to get him to calm down by telling him it was no big deal that we would figure it out." Colin started the story.

"That didn't work and he just kept pacing and muttering to himself." Finn continued.

"Stephanie had stopped by to pick up something she had left in my room and when she saw Logan she said he was acting like he was half way in love with some girl and freaking out about it. Before she left she told Logan that she couldn't wait to meet the girl who finally got to Logan Huntzberger."

"After she left Logan just looked at the two of us and said that the day he fell in love with any girl let alone Rory Gilmore was the day pigs would fly and Mitchum would get off his back." Finn finished as the Huntzbergers entered the room.

"Did I hear my name?" Logan's father asked entering the room with his wife and father.

"Yes you did dad but it's not important. How are you? Grandpa, mom, how you doing?" Logan got up to greet his family.

"We're fine Logan." His grandfather and mother answered him. About five minutes after Logan's family got there did the rest of the families arrive as well. After some introductions Katie announced that dinner was ready and asked the guys to go round up the kids. While the children were getting settled six year old Riley bumped into Elias Huntzberger, when the little girl apologized Elias couldn't help but think that she looked just like his oldest daughter.

"I sorry mister." The older man leaned down so he was level with the little girl and smiled at her.

"It's alright sweetheart. What's your name?"

"Riley." She answered shyly.

"You know Riley I have a daughter and you remind me of her."

"Really what's her name."

"Her name is Amy and she had hair as red as yours is when she was your age."

"Your silly mister. My little sisters name is Amy but her hair is the same color as Daddy's not mommy's." Riley giggled and went to go sit down next to her brother. Katie and Andrew overheard this exchange.

"Mr. Huntzberger who is Amy?" the eldest Huntzberger gave the young woman a sad smile.

"My oldest daughter Katie, who lost two of the most precious things in the world to her and couldn't stand the pain so she left." Katie was about to respond but her father interrupted her.

"Elias how about we not talk about Amy tonight ok. We are here to celebrate the birth of baby Ryan we don't need Amy bringing us down from half a world away." Andrew McCrea snapped at him.

**I am exhausted. Two chapters in one day. Well technically it isn't Wednesday anymore but whatever. I think I might have just given away the identity of the Author but it has been getting harder and harder to not be able to give it away. If I didn't totally give it away I would still like to hear your guesses. I'm a little unsure about the scene I wrote between Anna and Chad, I hope I did alright with it. I think I should mention that while this story follows the series for the most part two things never happened. One April doesn't exist and the marriage between Lorelai and Christopher doesn't either. I like both Christopher and Luke and it works better for my stories if they get along. I'm sorry if Emily and Richard are a little OC but I did my best with them. As for the Huntzbergers, I meant for them to be like that for a reason. Shira however will still be a bitch. The two songs I mentioned are London Calling by The Clash and Come On Over Tonight by Brad Paisley. If you haven't heard them I highly recommend them. Also the reference about the blond hair and blue eyes was said in the season five episode How Many Kropogs To Cape Cod? I have to work later today and it is three am. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always I would love to hear what you think.**

**Brianna **


	5. Amy and Anthony

The room went silent while waiting to see what Elias would do, after all nobody told Elias Huntzberger what to do. The older man just stared at Andrew for a few minutes before he spoke to him again.

"Young man you have no right telling me who I can and cannot talk about. If I want to talk about my baby girl than I will, I know the only reason you don't want me to talk about her is because you don't want them to know you lied to them. It has been over twenty years since I have seen my daughter and that is entirely your fault. I never liked the way you handled things back then but out of respect for my daughter I kept out of it. But I believe that it is time for things to change, I'm old and I won't be around much longer and I would like to see that my oldest is happy before I die. The only way that can happen is for you to start by telling them the truth. You owe it to them and to Amy." Elias didn't yell as he spoke to Andrew as everyone expected him to. What he did instead was much worse; he spoke to him calmly and quietly. All of the adults in the room, except for Logan, Honor, Mitchum, and Shira, looked confused. They all wanted to know who this Amy person was but no one wanted to be the one to speak first.

"Dad I want to know what the hell is going on but I don't think it should be talked about in front of the kids and we are here to celebrate the newest addition to the family. How about we have lunch this week and you can tell me what's going on?" Katie didn't give Andrew a chance to say no or make up an excuse as to why he couldn't, she just told him that they were having lunch and went back to being the hostess. Andrew didn't dare argue with his daughter when she spoke to him like that, it reminded him of the way her mother spoke to him when she told him she wanted a divorce. When his ex-wife said things in that tone it meant that she had made up her mind about something and there was nothing in the world that could change it. And Andrew had been noticing that Katie was becoming more like her mother every day. He didn't want to have this conversation with Katie or Colin. For some reason both of his children weren't the biggest fans of their mother and Andrew knew that was his fault. There was nothing Andrew wanted to do more in this world right now than to be able to go back and change the way he handled things. He was convinced that come Wednesday both Colin and Katie would hate him and he didn't know if he was ready for that.

After the discussion about Amy, the group tried to ignore the tension in the room and fight back the urge to ask questions about who Amy was. But in true Hartford society fashion they pretended that the exchange had never happened and turned the conversation over to happier things, like Colin and Stephanie's baby news. It was after the kids had finished dinner and the adults were all still gathered at the dining room table.

"Ok before everyone gets up Stephanie and I have an announcement to make. It's mostly just our parents we need to tell but since it is good news we want to share it with all of you." Colin suddenly said causing the group to stop their side conversations and look at him. He grabbed his wife's hand and gave it a kiss, letting her know that she could tell them. Stephanie smiled at the group and put her hand on her invisible baby bump.

"Mom, Dad, Mr. McCrea you are going to be grandparents again." Stephanie made eye contact with her parents as she spoke. She had no problem telling her father-in-law about the new baby but Nate and Vanessa Vanderbuilt were a different story. Stephanie's parents always wanted what was best for their only daughter and while they had no problems with her decision to run her own interior design business, they haven't always been fond of their son-in-law. When Stephanie was younger and playing with Katie all the time, they didn't mind him so much but never in their wildest dreams did they think that Stephanie would grow up and fall in love with him. They thought that Stephanie could do so much better than Colin and they secretly feared that Colin would turn into his father, who seemed to have a new wife every few years. They never told their daughter about this fear and did their best to accept him as part of the family. The longer Colin stayed with their daughter the more Nate and Vanessa started to believe that maybe he wasn't like his father. Stephanie knew that her parents weren't Colin's biggest fans but didn't know why and the last time she told them she was pregnant they didn't seem to be as excited about it as she was. Stephanie wanted them to be as happy about the new baby as she and Colin were but she didn't expect them to be. She expected them to tell her congratulations and let that be the end of it. So when Vanessa gave her daughter a hug and told her that she couldn't wait to be a grandma again Stephanie nearly started to cry.

Colin breathed a sigh of relief as he watched his in-laws hug their daughter while expressing their excitement about the pregnancy. Colin wasn't stupid; he knew that the Vanderbuilts had a hard time accepting his presence in Stephanie's life. For a while it bothered him that they didn't like him. He didn't understand what he did to make them not like him and it angered him that they let it affect Stephanie and Rebecca. It wasn't until he saw the looks on their faces when they heard about his father's last divorce that he realized what they were afraid of. They were afraid that he was going to become his father and break Stephanie's heart. He hadn't told his wife this because if she knew it would make her angry and cause her to fight with her parents. Colin didn't want that to happen so he kept it to himself. It took him a while to understand their fear but he did understand it and didn't blame them for it one bit. Colin knew that if Rebecca was with a guy whose best male role model was someone like Andrew he would be fearful of that guy breaking her heart. So he did his best to prove to Nate and Vanessa that he was nothing like his father.

When the excitement of the couple's announcement had died down a little bit, the group split up. Finn led the men to one of his favorite rooms in the house, his game room, where they could play a little poker and smoke if they wished. The women stayed in the kitchen to gossip and make plans to spoil baby Ryan and Stephanie's new baby. Colin hung at the back of the group of men that was following his brother-in-law. Before entering the game room Colin caught Nate by the arm and asked to speak with him privately.

"Mr. Vanderbuilt I want you to know that there is nothing in this world that would ever make me leave her. To be honest sir my life would be crap without her. Her being happy is what makes me happy. If she decides one day that she doesn't want to be with me anymore, than I will let her go. I will give her what she wants and it will make me the most miserable man on the planet but I'll do it for her. That is the only way I will ever voluntarily leave her side. My sister tells me all the time that I am a lot like my father and I know that is true. But when it comes to women that is where Andrew and I are most different."

"Colin I don't know why you think that I think you are like Andrew, but you are right. One of my biggest fears is that you are going to decide that you don't love her anymore or don't want to put up with her and leave her. The longer you two stay together the more I start to believe I'm wrong. You coming to me and telling me that you plan to stay with her forever helps a lot. I'm going to do my best to believe from now on that you are nothing like your father when it comes to women. It has actually been getting hard for me to convince myself lately that there is a chance you will leave one day. I won't try to convince myself of that anymore if you don't tell Stephanie about this." Colin promised Nate that Stephanie would never hear a word about this before they joined the rest of the men. When Nate and Colin walked in Finn was just about to get a couple of games of poker started.

"Alright gentlemen, I figure that we can have two tables going, six of you at one table and seven at the other. Just so you know this is just for fun, there will be no money involved. My wife tells me that I shouldn't take money from our guests anymore or you won't want to come back." Finn told the group of guys.

"If it's alright with everyone I think I'll just watch. I don't really know how to play." Luke said.

"That's alright Luke you and I can play together and I'll teach you." Christopher offered. Luke agreed and the guys split up into two groups. At the first table was Logan, Mitchum, Luke, Christopher, Richard, Josh, and Elias. At the second was Finn, Colin, Nate, Andrew, Jordan, and Devon. As the men played cards they talked about different things and they were all having a good time. Well almost all of them, Colin noticed that Andrew wasn't enjoying himself, which was odd because if there was one thing Colin knew about his father it was that the man loved to play poker. Something was bothering Andrew and Colin couldn't help but wonder if it had to do with this Amy person that Elias Huntzberger had been talking about earlier. He had been surprised when his father snapped at the older man earlier and wanted to ask who Amy was but didn't know how. He was glad that Katie had said what she did and he knew that he would be joining his sister when she had lunch with their father. Katie was always better at knowing what to say than Colin was anyway, like when they were little and somebody at school asked them why they didn't have a mother. Colin didn't know what to tell that person but Katie jumped right in and told them that their mother was an angel in heaven. He had no idea where his sister had gotten the idea that their mother was dead but nobody had ever told them that she wasn't so he just went with it. Colin would never forget the day that he learned where his mother really was. He was eight and had been playing video games with Finn and Logan, when Katie had come stomping into the room.

_**"I hate her!" eight year old Katie McCrea screamed as she came into the playroom. Colin, her twin brother, Finn, and Logan looked up at her in surprise. **_

_**"You hate who Katie?" her brother asked her.**_

_**"Mom." Colin was surprised at his sister's statement. He didn't think that she should hate their mother; after all it wasn't cool to hate the dead.**_

_**"Why do you hate mom? She couldn't have possibly done anything to make you mad cause she's dead."**_

_**"No she isn't Colin; she's alive and lives in Europe."**_

_**"How do you know that?"**_

_**"I asked Daddy and he told me. I asked him if mommy was an angel and he said no. He said that she left right after we turned one because she didn't love us anymore."**_

_**"Oh ok. You want to play video games with us?"**_

Colin didn't know what to say to his sister when she told him about their mother and they never really talked about her again. He knew that Katie hated her for leaving and was convinced that he hated her as well. There were times when he thought he did hate his mother but there was a part of him that never really believed that his mother stopped loving him. He didn't know why she left or where she was and if she had another family or not, he didn't even know her name. Andrew never told Colin or Katie their mother's name, for all he knew this Amy person could be his mother. He figured she was his mother from the way his father acted when Logan's grandfather was talking about her. He would find out for sure on Wednesday.

_I woke up the next morning to a note on the pillow next to me._

_'Anna_

_I couldn't wake you because you looked so peaceful while you were sleeping. I also knew that if I woke you then it would be that much harder for me to leave. You and I both know that we have to get back to reality. You have to go to Yale and I need to graduate. I know we need to talk about what happened and we will. I miss you already and I am counting the days till I see you again._

_Love_

_Chad'_

_As much as I wanted to say goodbye to him in person I knew it was better for us not to. If I had I would have most likely asked him to run away with me again and he probably would have said yes. Chad's visit had made me feel ten times better about starting Yale. My first few weeks at school weren't very eventful. I went to class, did my homework, and went and saw my dad a couple of times. It was about a month into my first semester when I heard from Mary and Chris again._

_"Hello" I said into the phone._

_"Hey stranger I was hoping you could answer a question for me?" Mary said to me._

_"I can try to answer your question but I'm not making any promises."_

_"I want to know what you did to my brother."_

_"What makes you think I did anything to him?"_

_"Well the last person to see him before he became super annoying Chad was you. So I came to the conclusion that you did something to him." I hesitated answering her question. I didn't know what to tell her and if it had been any other guy I would have told her everything. But it wasn't just some random guy, it was her brother. Chad and I hadn't spoken yet so I wasn't sure what to tell her even if I wanted to. I didn't want to lie to my best friend but I didn't really feel like I had any other choice._

_"How is he super annoying Chad? And we didn't do anything but talk and hang out." I told her._

_"He is happy and humming all the time. And he never gets that stupid smile off of his face it is really starting to bug me. I mean how can he be so happy all the time?" I had to laugh at how frustrated she seemed with him. _

_"I don't know, Mary, but is Chad all you called to ask me about?"_

_"No of course not. How is Yale?"_

_"Yale is good. I like my classes and it is so nice to have my own apartment. How is school going for you? And how is Chris?"_

_"School is good. Chris is good too I think."_

_"You mean you don't know? Don't you two live together?"_

_"Yeah we do but he has these new friends and they're all guys, so when they all go do stuff it's guy stuff and I don't want to do that stuff. He hangs out with them a lot and with classes and everything else I hardly get to see him. I miss him and it's not that I don't want him to have his own friends, I do it's just I want some time with him too you know?"_

_"Yeah I know. Maybe if you find a group to hang out with then maybe you can do stuff with them when he is doing stuff with his friends and you won't miss him so much?"_

_"Yeah maybe. Hey Anna can you hold on a sec?"_

_"Sure" As I waited for her to come back on the phone I thought about how nice it would be to have someone at Yale that I could hang out with. I did miss my friends more than anything but talking on the phone could only do so much. I needed to seriously think about finding someone I could hang out with. After a few minutes of hearing nothing on the other end of the phone I heard two voices. One belonged to a guy but it was too muffled for me to identify and the other was Mary's. He must have asked a question because Mary answered him and then it was silent for a few seconds._

_"Hey you, I miss you how have you been?" I couldn't help but smile at the sound of Chad's voice. I was surprised at how much I had missed him over the last four weeks._

_"Hi, I miss you too. I'm good schools good. So I hear that you have been so annoyingly happy these last few weeks that you are starting to get on your sister's nerves." Chad laughed._

_"Yeah well she can get over it. I didn't rain on her parade when she was all smiley when she and Chris first got together."_

_"Yeah that's true. So should we talk about this or wait until we see each other at Christmas?" I asked him. I needed to know where we stood. I liked Chad a lot more than I realized when he was here a month ago. I really didn't want to wait till Christmas to talk about what had happened, but at the same time I felt like we should talk about it in person._

_"Anna we should really talk in person but what I have to say can't wait that long." The tone of his voice was suddenly serious and I had a feeling that I wasn't going to like what he had to say. But I let him tell me anyway._

_"Ok" _

_"I need you to know that what happened between us last month was a dream come true for me. I have been crushing on you for a long time. I really want us to work Anna but I don't think now is the time for us. I'm three years older than you and about to graduate from college. I know what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life; I know who I am and what I want. I learned all that in college Anna and as much as I would love to call you mine, it's not a good idea right now. If we tried to make this work long distance there is a good chance that it could fall apart. And I would never forgive myself; my sister would never forgive me if things ended badly between us. I want this to happen but I just think we need to wait until we are both in the same country. Do you understand?" He sounded like this was the last thing in the world he wanted to be saying, like it was tearing him apart to just be thinking the words. I wanted to understand and I think a part of me did but the more dominate part was hurt. For the first time since my mother died I was actually hurt. Chad had brought me back to life, made me feel like there was a light at the end of the dark tunnel that had disguised itself as Yale. And now he was throwing me back in to the darkness without an anchor to the light. I didn't know what to tell him so I went into survival mode. It was what I used to survive in my parents world and I never thought I would be using it with Chad._

_"Yeah of course I understand. I have a class in a little bit though so I have to go. Will you tell Mary and say hi to Chris for me?" I didn't give him a chance to answer before I hung up. I sat there in shock for a few minutes trying to absorb what had just happened. An hour ago I had been a perfectly happy person. I really liked somebody and I knew they liked me back. I had trusted him with my heart and he crushed it. Understand? Did I understand? No I didn't. I didn't understand why we couldn't be together. I wanted it, he wanted it. So why couldn't it be? I don't remember how long I sat there but it must have been a while because the next thing I remember was waking up on my couch. Over the next few days it slowly sank in that Chad didn't want to be with me. The more I thought about what had happened the angrier I got. By the end of the week I was pissed off and I needed something to do other than sit around my apartment, which is how I found myself at the campus pub on a Friday night. _

_When I walked in the place was packed and from the doorway it looked like there was no place to sit. That didn't discourage me. I went up to the bar and ordered a Long Island Ice Tea. It wasn't what I usually drank unless I was prepared to party and Chad hated it when I drank them. He said it made me a different person and he didn't like it. It was while I was waiting for my drink when my life changed again. His name was Anthony Michaels and he was nothing like Chad. I don't remember a lot of what happened that night. But the next day he knocked on my door with his personal hangover cure and we spent the day talking. Apparently in my drunken state I had told him all about Chad and how much it hurt. He said that he thought I could use a friend and that he was volunteering for the job. Over the course of the next few weeks I found myself confiding in Anthony. Telling him things that I didn't tell Mary that quickly into our friendship. In return he told me about what was expected of him as his father's only son and how much he hated it. Anthony was from Hartford as well and in fact I think our parents might have worked together but I wasn't really sure. We decided that we would do our best to rebel against our parents together. He became one of my best friends and the only thing I hated was that it made me distant with Mary and Chris._

_Mary called me to ask what had happened between Chad and I. I told her to ask him. He didn't tell her either. After a while Mary stopped asking me about Chad but still kept me updated on what was going on with him. Apparently she told her brother that I met a guy, which is true, but what she failed to tell him was that Anthony was just a friend. A few weeks into the spring semester Mary called to tell me that Chad had a new girlfriend. That night I got drunk and kissed Anthony. That was my first mistake of many that would take place in the next five years._

**Hey guys sorry this chapter took so long but it was suggested to me that maybe I should get a beta so I have. That is why this chapter took longer than usual. Hopefully once I get use to having one I will update regularly again. Most of ya'll have made great guesses as to who the Author is, meaning you are either super close or right. I'm not going to tell you who it is though I think I make it pretty obvious. Any way I don't think this story will be too much longer. For those of you who read Saving Logan, I am currently working on a oneshot in Rosemary's point of view and after I'm done with that I hope to start working on the sequel. Last I would like to send out mucho love to my beta, who is totally awesome. Thank you so much for all your help. Please send me your guesses and comments I love to hear them. Enjoy!**

**Brianna**


	6. Andrew's Story

_I wish I could tell you that Anthony was sober and stopped me from kissing him. Unfortunately he had just talked to his dad that morning and needed to drink just as much as I did. So when I kissed him that night he didn't stop it, he just asked me if I wanted to go somewhere and talk. We ended up in his dorm room and I like to think that somewhere in our drunken haze we both knew that what we were doing was wrong and stopped ourselves before we could do anything we might regret. However, when I woke up the next morning in Anthony's bed with a killer headache and a note, I wasn't so sure that nothing happened._

_'Hey gorgeous,_

_There is stuff for your hangover in the kitchen, help yourself and stay as long as you like. My roommate is staying with his girlfriend this weekend so you should have the place to yourself. My father requested I come to Hartford today, so that is where I will be. I hope to be back to school this afternoon or this evening at the latest. Want to meet me for dinner? I was hoping that we could get some take out and talk about last night. I'll call you later._

_Anthony'_

_His note did nothing to calm my fears that nothing happened, if anything it actually made me worry more. As I tended to my hangover I tried to remember what had happened. What could we have done last night that we needed to talk about? I remembered going to the pub and meeting Anthony there. I remembered ordering a Long Island Ice Tea and talking to Anthony about his conversation with his father but that was the last thing I remembered. I didn't have any clue as to how we ended up at his dorm or if we did more than sleep in his bed last night. I knew that sitting around trying to remember wasn't going to help me figure out what had happened, so I went back to my apartment and tried to study. Around four-thirty Anthony called._

_"Hello" I greeted._

_"Hey it's me, how has your day been?" Anthony's smooth voice responded on the other end. _

_"It's been quiet; I've just been doing some studying. How is Hartford?" He sighed and I could picture him rolling his eyes._

_"It's as well as can be expected. I am definitely going to need some distracting when I get back but I don't think it should come in the form of alcohol. I was thinking we could order Chinese and hang out at your place?" Normally I would use his mention of the night before to joke about not remembering anything but I didn't think that would be a good idea now. Especially since we apparently needed to talk about what had happened._

_"Just tell me what time you're going to be back and I will have everything ready."_

_"I should be home in about thirty minutes. Should I just head over to your apartment?"_

_"Sounds good, I'll see you when you get here." After hanging up the phone I once again tried to remember what had happened the night before and got the apartment ready for Anthony's arrival. True to his word thirty minutes later Anthony Michaels walked into my apartment. While eating we talked about what had happened with his father and how classes had been going. The one thing we didn't talk about was the thing I was most nervous to talk about. Finally after all other subjects had been exhausted he asked about last night._

_"Do you remember anything that happened?" Anthony looked at me with hope and something else I couldn't identify shining in his brown eyes. _

_"The last thing I remember is talking to you about the phone call with your father. I've tried to remember the rest but I'm not having much luck. Did something happen I should know about?" I smiled at him apologetically._

_"We didn't sleep together or anything but you did kiss me. And Anna it was the most amazing kiss I have ever experienced. I like you Anna, a lot. I hate what this Chad guy is doing to you and I think that if you let yourself try, then we could be good for each other. I'm not saying that we have to get married or anything but we could help each other." He looked nervously at me while waiting for me to say something._

_"I'm not over Chad and I love having you as my friend but what makes you think that us dating would be helpful?"_

_"I know you're not over him and I'm alright with that. One of the things my parents talked to me about today was marriage. My dad told me that I needed to start thinking about dating more respectable girls, girls that would make a good wife. If we were dating or even pretending to date then that would get my parents off my back for a while and it might even make Chad jealous enough to want to get back together with you." His reasoning made sense and what could it hurt really? Most of our group thought we were dating anyway._

_"I don't want you to get the wrong idea about this. I like you well enough and maybe if this thing with Chad had never happened I would have considered really dating you. I want to keep you as a friend but I can also see the advantages of us fake dating. The second this stops working though is the second we go back to being just friends alright?" Anthony quickly agreed. That was the day we started 'dating'. I didn't start to fall for him right away but I'm pretty sure he was falling for me. He treated me like I was his real girlfriend without the sex or the kissing. I usually let him hold my hand and he kissed me in public when he thought he could get away with it. That was probably my second mistake._

Andrew McCrea was nervous. He doesn't usually get nervous; he is after all one hell of a lawyer. It takes quite a bit to get him like this but the lunch date with his children was making him all scatterbrained. He knew that there was a good possibility that Colin and Katie wouldn't be happy with him after this. He didn't want them to be mad but he would deserve every bit of their anger. What he did to Amy he did out of hurt and anger, he never thought about the effect it would have on Katie and Colin. The first time he started to regret it was when Katie married Finn and then again when she got pregnant with Connor. There were times when he noticed that his little girl could really benefit from having Amy around and it broke his heart because he was the reason she wasn't. No matter how much he wanted to he couldn't change the past but he could help fix what he broke for the future. So he picked up the phone and called the one person he thought could help.

"Huntzberger."

"Mitchum it's Andrew McCrea." He greeted the younger man.

"What can I do for you Andrew?" Mitchum asked him. Contrary to popular belief Mitchum Huntzberger could be a decent person when he wanted to be and Amy was one of those people who got to see that side of him. Mitchum used to like Andrew but after what happened with Amy, Andrew became one of his least favorite people.

"I was actually hoping you would give me Amy's phone number. I am about to have lunch with Colin and Katie and I know that along with being very angry at me one or both of them is going to want to get in touch with her."

"I don't have it. The one I do have for her is not right. She moved a few years ago and changed her number but I do have the number to the bookstore if you want it."

"Yeah that would be great thanks."

"This doesn't mean I forgive you McCrea. You broke her heart and drove her away from her family. Now I realize that she probably would have moved there anyway but at least she would have stayed in contact with us. I think that you deserve to have your children stop speaking to you but I'll leave that up to them." After Mitchum hung up the guilt that had been eating away at Andrew for the past twenty years suddenly overcame him and he had to fight back the tears that wanted to escape. He sighed before picking up the phone to call the bookstore; he knew that he deserved Mitchum's anger and whatever his children wanted to punish him with.

"Lucky Page this is Maggie speaking, how can I help you?" A cheerful, female accented voice greeted him. Andrew took a deep breath before answering. This was Amy's best friend and she hated his guts.

"Maggie this is Andrew McCrea and I was wondering if you could give me Amy's number? I know I have no right to ask but will you please hear me out before you hang up on me?"

"You have one minute to give me one good reason as to why I should give you her number." The once cheerful voice said coldly. The sudden coldness of Maggie's voice came as no surprise to Andrew, what did surprise him was the fact that she didn't hang up on him right away. The last time he had spoken to her was right before Amy had moved to Ireland permanently. She came storming into his office in the middle of a meeting and started yelling at him for what he was doing to Amy. Before leaving his office Maggie looked him dead in the eyes and told him that she wished he was dead. That was when he started to hate himself because Maggie was one of the sweetest people in the world and to hear her say something like that so coldly made him realize what a horrible person he was.

"I was having dinner with the Huntzberger's the other night and Colin and Katie were there. Elias brought up Amy and Katie started asking questions. I'm meeting Katie and Colin for lunch later and I know that will probably be the last time they ever speak to me. I also know that one or both of them will want to get in contact with her and I thought that if I gave her number to them then they could be reunited that much sooner." Andrew told her quickly.

"I can't argue with that no matter how much I would like to. I'll give you her number and I am also going to tell her that you called. Please tell Colin and Katie that she will be up until eleven and they can call tonight if they want to." Maggie told him before giving him the number and hanging up. When he was finished with his phone calls he closed down his office for the day, sent his assistant home and headed for The Prince.

When he arrived at The Prince he saw that Katie was already there. She was standing by the entrance to the restaurant talking to Finn. His son-in-law appeared to be comforting her and Andrew couldn't help but smile at how perfect the couple was for each other. Knowing he couldn't delay this any longer he made his way over to the couple.

"Hi Finn, Katie how are you?" The older man greeted the younger couple.

"Just fine Mr. McCrea. Love I'll see you later alright? And if you need me too I can take off early today." Finn nodded at his father-in-law before saying goodbye to his wife with a kiss. Katie didn't turn to look at her father until Finn was out of sight.

"Hi Dad. Colin is already here and I have a feeling that this is going to be a very emotional meal so let's get it over with." Katie told her father before leading him to where Colin was sitting in a secluded part of the restaurant. The three of them exchanged pleasantries and placed their orders before getting down to business.

"I know that the two of you want to know who Amy is and I'm going to tell you but before I do I need to know how you feel about your mother." The older man told his children. At first neither one of them knew what to say but Colin spoke first.

"Sometimes I hate her for leaving us, but then there are times when I'm convinced that she loves us and something must have happened for her to stay away like this." Colin said calmly.

"You told me that she left because she didn't love us anymore and I can't understand what could have possibly happened to make her stop loving her kids. Even Mitchum loves Honor and Logan in his own twisted way. Ever since you told me that I have hated her." Katie said.

"Katie I never meant for you to think that your mother didn't love you. She left because she stopped loving me. I don't want the two of you to ever think that your mother doesn't love you because she does. Amy is Elias Huntzberger's oldest daughter and your mother. I want the two of you to know that I love you and after you hear my story you will probably be pissed at me. I expect that and I understand. But you should know that when I did this I was young, stupid, and heartbroken." The two siblings nodded and waited for their father to continue.

"I met your mother at Yale. A bunch of friends and I were celebrating the end of the week at the campus pub. The place was packed which wasn't unusual for a Friday night, I don't know what made me look up at the door when she walked in but I was glad I did. She had this beautiful red hair and this look on her face that was somewhere between determined and pissed. I went over to her when she got to the bar and invited her to sit with us. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I wasn't attracted to her right away because I was. But there was something about her that made me think she wasn't like all the other society girls I had grown up with. I also stopped drinking when she joined us because it seemed like she needed to do some serious forgetting and I didn't want her to do something stupid that she wouldn't remember in the morning. The more she drank the more she talked. Towards the end of the night, after all my friends had left, she started talking to me about some guy named Charlie. I figured he was her boyfriend or something. But as I walked her back to her apartment I learned that he was an almost boyfriend. Charlie was someone that she could really see herself living happily ever after with. Your mother believed in happy endings no matter how much she tried to deny. She used to tell me that it was pointless because nobody lived happily ever after." Andrew paused to take a breath and pull something out of his briefcase.

"I don't know how I managed it but somehow I got her into her apartment that night. When I woke up the next day I couldn't get her out of my head, so I got the stuff to make my hangover cure and headed over to her apartment. We spent the entire day together just talking. She told me about not liking society but felt obligated to stay because of her family. She told me about her two best friends that she had met at boarding school and how much she missed them. I in turn told her how I wanted to do anything but be a lawyer and do what was expected of me. We understood each other and understood what being a member of our respective families meant. Then one night a few weeks into the spring semester of our freshman year, she kissed me. She was drunk because she had talked to Maggie, her best friend, who told her that Charlie had a new girlfriend. When she kissed me I let myself believe it was real for a little bit. It was the greatest feeling in the world but I had to stop it. I knew that if I didn't then we would do something stupid and I would lose Amy as a friend. The next day after spending all day in Hartford we sat down and talked about it. Your grandfather had just given me the 'you need to grow up and date respectable girls' speech. I came up with an idea that Amy and I could pretend to date. That way I could get my father off my back and maybe then Amy would get over Charlie. To this day I don't know how I convinced her to go along with it. I know that I started to fall for her before she started falling for me. I treated her like she was my real girlfriend except I got none of the benefits. She would occasionally let me kiss her but that was it. We had been together about two years before it became real. I have her friend Maggie to thank for that. Apparently Amy had told Maggie about our arrangement and Maggie told her that it was a bad idea to continue pretending to date me if that's all it was ever going to be. Amy told me later that kissing me that night was an experiment to see if she had feelings for me. She did. That was another of the greatest days of my life. We started to act like a real couple in love then and we made plans for the future. I like to believe that she had finally come to a place where she could forget about Charlie." Andrew stopped speaking once more and showed them what he had pulled out of his briefcase. It was a picture, taken about thirty-five years before, of a young man who was obviously Andrew and a gorgeous young woman that looked exactly like Katie. Andrew had his arms wrapped around the young woman from behind and was kissing her cheek, the young woman had a beautiful smile on her face with her arms laying on top of his. Her eyes were closed.

"This was taken at Yale at the end of our junior year. I love this picture because your mother actually seems to be at peace and happy. That summer the two of us went to Ireland together. She wanted to introduce me to Carter, Maggie, and Maggie's family. The people I met in Ireland that summer were wonderful and I could see why your mother loved it so much. I didn't meet Charlie. He was with his girlfriend I believe, but I think he made an appearance. I only think this because at one point the phone rang and after talking to the other person Maggie came and whispered something in your mother's ear. She disappeared for a while after that. When she reappeared she asked me to go for a walk with her and while we were walking she told me that she loved me. That she knew she could love me freely and completely. During our last year at Yale together we discussed more concrete plans for the future. We would be hanging out at the apartment and she would start talking about what would happen after graduation. She decided that we would keep her apartment to live in while I went to law school and that we would find a house that was as far away from our parents as possible, once I graduated. And after I proposed to her at Christmas, she started talking about where we would get married and have our honeymoon. She would even talk about names for our kids. From the very beginning the name Katherine was talked about, she told me that it was Maggie's middle name and she loved it. Boys names were always changing, she never could decide what boy names she liked the best or went better with McCrea. As the wedding got closer I started to see less of her. She was always off with one of her girls or on the phone with Maggie, who was flying over to be her maid of honor. One night a few days before graduation she asked me something that I will never forget. She made me promise not to change completely, which confused me at first. Then she explained that getting married and going to law school was bound to change us a little. We were both probably going to become a little like our parents and she was ok with that but she wanted to know that I would do my best not to change completely. I didn't see a problem with making that promise to her, so I promised her and she promised me the same. We got married that summer in Cape Cod, it was beautiful. We had invited Charlie and his fiancée and while I didn't see them your mother told me that he snuck in right before it started and left right after it was over." Andrew paused to catch his breath and showed them the picture of him and Amy on their wedding day.

"For the first few years things were great, it was just the two of us and that was the way we liked it. Then one day a couple months into my last year of law school your mother came to me and told me she was pregnant. We were both ecstatic, we prepared for the baby together. I went to all the doctor's appointments, gave my opinion on names, and how we were going to decorate the nursery. But somewhere around mid-term things changed. Classes became harder and your grandfather expected me to be in Hartford when I wasn't in class. That upset Amy because she wanted to do stuff for the baby when I wasn't in class. We started fighting and if Elias hadn't noticed how upsetting it was for Amy I don't know what would have happened. Elias talked to my father and the trips to Hartford stopped for a while. But by the time you two came into the world at the end of May things were tense again. Your grandfather was overworking me at the office and your mother expected me to help with the midnight feedings. I tried so hard because I loved you two and your mother more than anything in the world, but things were changing, I was changing. And no matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop it or keep up. One day when the two of you were six months old your mother brought you to the office to surprise me for lunch. One of the new interns had chosen this moment to make a move on me. Amy saw the whole thing and gave the intern a piece of her mind before telling me she would see me at home and leaving. That night when I got home she told me she had had enough and wanted a divorce. That I wasn't her Andrew anymore. She told me that we could split everything right down the middle and have joint custody of you two."

"I tried to understand but something inside me snapped that day. Amy broke my heart and I wanted her to hurt as much as I did. So I did the only thing I could think of, which was fighting her for full custody of you guys. I don't know how I did it but when it was all said and done I had won. I had expected her to move to Ireland after the divorce was final but she didn't. I cut her off from you completely and she stayed to try and convince me to change my mind. For five years she tried to get me to let her see you, I never gave in. I don't know what happened to make her finally move to Ireland but I think Charlie had something to do with it. Every year until you were eighteen she would try to change my mind or fight me for custody and every year I managed to block her attempts. When you two were little her attempts were stronger but the older you got the less she tried. I think that was because she knew that she had already missed out on so much and soon there would be no point. I hate myself for what I did and there is no excuse for my behavior. No matter how badly your mother hurt me I should never have taken you from her. I don't expect you two to ever forgive me and I know there is nothing I can do to make up for it. But I thought that her phone number might help. I'm also supposed to tell you that she will stay up until eleven her time waiting for you to call if you want to." As Andrew finished his story, the siblings tried to wrap their heads around it. They had a mother who loved them. Colin felt like somebody had knocked the wind out of him and couldn't catch his breath for a minute. He hated his father so much in that moment that he felt like he could reach across the table and strangle him. He knew that he would never forgive the man but he also knew that he had to be the one to speak because Katie would be more pissed then he was and he didn't want her to make a scene.

"Dad you had no right to keep us from mom. I don't understand how you could have justified that to yourself. No matter how much Stephanie hurt me I could never take Rebecca from her. What you did is pretty unforgivable and as of right now I'm pretty sure I won't be speaking to you anytime soon and I'm sure Katie won't be either. Don't call us we will call you if we want to speak to you. You made your bed and now you have to lie in it. Let's go Katie." Colin told his father angrily before standing up and taking Katie with him. As he watched the twins leave the restaurant Andrew tried to figure out how things ended up this way. How did he end up hurting the three people that meant the most to him in the world? He should have known that getting involved with Amy was a bad idea the moment she sat down on that barstool and started telling him about Charlie. Why wasn't he able to keep himself from hurting Amy and his children?

The siblings took the elevator up to the penthouse apartment, Colin was still fuming like an active volcano but Katie wasn't. For the first time in her life the red-head's usually fiery temper was dormant. As she listened to her father tell them what happened and who Amy was she felt herself become numb, like someone had given her a strong dose of vicodin. For the next hour Katie listened to her brother rant and rave about what Andrew had done, stating that he had no intention of forgiving him. While Colin was ranting Katie was thinking about the story Andrew had told and trying to figure out why it seemed so familiar. When Colin had stopped pacing long enough to ask her if they were going to call Amy she thought of something.

"Colin remember that book Rory was reading that I thought sounded familiar?" Her brother looked at her confused.

"Yeah what about it?"

"I think Mom wrote it."

"What in the world makes you think that?"

"Well besides the fact that what Dad just told us is pretty much Anna's relationship with Anthony in the book, nothing just a feeling."

"Ok I guess I could see that but we have no proof and the book is irrelevant right now because it has nothing to do with whether or not we are gonna call her."

"I think we should." Colin smiled at his sister and went to grab the paper with Amy's number on it. He went into the living room, put the phone on speaker and dialed. After a couple of rings someone finally picked up on the other end.

"Hello" A woman answered, her voice sounding hopeful.

"Is Amy there?" Katie asked.

"This is Amy; may I ask who is calling?"

"Well my name is Colin and my sister Katie is here as well." Colin answered her.

**Hi guys. I'm sorry that this is so late but real life and writers block kept me from updating. I'm not sure how many more chapters are left but I'm guessing about two or maybe three. I'm not too sure if there will be anymore actual excerpts from The Book because now that the Author is going to be a present day character I think I will be able to tell her story that way. If you want me to keep doing excerpts from The Book then I will just let me know in a review. Once again I would like to thank you all for reading this and I also want to thank my beta. You rock chica. Please leave me you thoughts and comments, I love hearing from you!**

**Brianna**


	7. Reunions

After Colin answered her there was silence on the other end of the phone for a few minutes. Finally after what seemed like hours Amy spoke.

"Please tell me I am not imagining this. You two are really real and really talking to me?" she asked them. She sounded like she was trying to keep herself from crying.

"You aren't imagining this. We just got done having lunch with the man formerly known as our father and he gave us your number." Katie told her.

"I know he gave it to you. He called my friend Maggie's bookstore and asked her for it, which makes me think that he must know on some level that what he did was wrong. But I don't want to talk about your father; I want to know about you guys."

"What did you want to know?" Colin asked.

"Anything and everything, why don't you tell me what you guys do for a living? We can start there."

"Ok well I run a catering and planning company, which means I basically help plan a lot of parties. But I help plan a lot of the events at The Prince." Katie told her mother.

"The Prince, as in the hotel? That must keep you pretty busy. What about you Colin?"

"Yes as in the hotel and it does keep me busy but I love it. And one of the cool things is that I get to see Finn during the day sometimes, but that could be an annoyance if we aren't getting along." Katie answered.

"I'm a lawyer and I love it. Dad told me when I went to Yale that I didn't have to go into law if I didn't want to but it's what I've always wanted to do. Plus it almost always gets me home at a decent hour so I can spend time with my family." Colin said.

"That's good that you both love your jobs, but who is Finn and Colin you have a family? I guess that shouldn't really surprise me considering how long it's been since I've seen you guys but tell me about them please."

"Well my wife's name is Stephanie and she is the most beautifully awesome person in the world. I can't imagine my life without her and one of the best things about her is that she calls me on my bullshit. I think that has a lot to do with being friends with Katie though. We also have a six year old daughter named Rebecca. There are no words to describe how cool it is to be able to know that she is mine. That I'm partially responsible to make sure she stays safe and knows that she is loved. It's also one of the scariest feelings in the world but I wouldn't trade them for anything." Said Colin. Katie smiled at her brother telling their mom about his girls.

"Col you forgot to tell her your news." Katie reminded her twin.

"Oh yeah and Stephanie is pregnant again. She's due at the end of August or early September." He shared excitedly.

"As for me, Finn is my husband and we have been married for ten years. We got married a year after we graduated from Yale and we have four beautiful children. Connor Matthew is the oldest and he is eight, Riley Nichole came next and she is six. Then there is the twins Cayden James and Amy Jennifer who are four. And when we picked out the name Amy I had no idea that was your name, Dad never told us what your name was." Katie told her mom.

"Wow this morning I only had two grandchildren and now I have nine. This is the happiest day of my life you have no idea what this means to me. I want to meet your families and I know this might be a little soon but I have been waiting for this for thirty-two years. Please just tell me how you want this to work and I'll do whatever you're comfortable with. I just want to be a part of your lives." Amy told them excitedly. Colin and Katie exchanged smiles. They both wanted her to be a part of their lives but they weren't really sure how it should work.

"We aren't sure how this should work either but we would like to know a little bit about this guy Charlie. Dad mentioned him a few times." Colin asked Amy.

"Well Charlie is my husband, but I have known him since I was fourteen. He is one of my best friends and I don't know if I could have dealt with what Andrew did as well if it hadn't been for him. We have been married for twenty-five years and have one son together. His name is Sean; he's twenty-four and engaged to a wonderful girl named Hollie. You also have a step-sister named Emma; she is from Charlie's first marriage. Emma is thirty-six, married to a wonderful man named Jack and they have two little girls, Abigail, who's nine, and Ashley, who's seven. Anything else you would like to know?" Amy asked them.

"Who knew our family was actually this big? I would love to talk to you more Mom but I actually have to go pick up the twins, so let me just give you my numbers and you can call me tomorrow maybe?" Katie asked her mom.

"That sounds wonderful."

"Yeah Steph has a doctor's appointment in a little bit and we are suppose to get the first sonogram so I can't be late. But I would love to talk to you some more and do you have a computer so we can send you pictures and a copy of the sonogram?" Colin asked her. After exchanging phone numbers, emails, and promising to talk soon the three of them hung up. Katie was surprised at how easy it was to talk to Amy, for most of her life she had thought her mother didn't love her or care to know what was going on in her life. But when she told Amy about Finn and the kids she seemed so happy to know that she had more grandchildren. Katie wanted to have a relationship with her mother more than anything in the world but there was a part of her that was unsure. Could it really be that easy? Could it really be as simple as one phone call to start a relationship with her mom? There was a part of her that felt like she should be mad at her mother, but what for? She hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't Amy's fault that Andrew kept them apart. Maybe if they just talked on the phone for a while she would get use to having her mom in her life, it was something she would have to get use to that was for sure. But right now all she wanted to do was go pick up her kids and spend some time with them. So on her way to the lobby she stopped by Finn's office.

"Hey babe what do you say we go get the kids and go home? Because after the afternoon I have had I want nothing more than to be at home with you guys." Katie asked her husband as she entered his office.

"I think that sounds wonderful Love. I think my little brother can handle anything that might come up the rest of the day. Let me just get my stuff together, I shouldn't be more than a few minutes." Finn agreed with her. Katie waited for him to finish up for the day and five minutes later they were on their way to the elementary school. During the car ride Katie told Finn all about her lunch with Andrew and her phone call with Amy.

"Wow Love I can't believe your Dad did that. I could never imagine doing something like that to you or anybody. What do you think about having your Mum in your life?"

"I don't know Finn. I mean there is a really big part of me that is madder at my father then I have been at anyone my entire life, including my mother. That same part is excited to finally have my Mom apart of my life and I can't wait to get to know her better. I can't wait to meet her and have her be a part of the kid's lives. Then there is a tiny part of me that wants to be mad at her, that isn't convinced that it can really be this simple." Pulling into a parking space Finn turned to face his wife.

"Katie it's not that simple, but it doesn't have to be hard either. What Andrew did to you, to Colin, and to Amy was wrong and it cost you knowing your mother. I know that there have been times when you needed her and she wasn't there. Nobody will ever be able to change that but that doesn't mean you should blame her either. You have to take things slowly. You aren't the only one that feels like they missed out on something. Imagine how she must of felt knowing that you and Colin were growing up and she was missing it. It must have been so hard for her Katie. Just start out by talking to her, telling her about you, our life, and the kids. One day you will be ready to meet her and when that day comes the kids and I will be there for you. Just take it one day at a time. You don't have to make up for thirty-two years in one phone call alright."

"Your right thanks babe. Now let's go get the rugrats." Katie thanked Finn before following him to the front of the school.

_Stephanie's Office_

If Colin was honest with himself he was a little excited. No not about the baby, well he was excited about that too, but about talking to his Mom for the first time. He had always wanted to know her but when Katie told him that she left because she didn't love them; he tried to convince himself to forget about her. But there was a part of him that never fully believed that his mother didn't love him or want to know him. He couldn't tell his sister that because she would just tell him to get over it and that mom was never coming back. Stephanie knew though, she knew how he secretly hoped for a relationship with his mother someday. He couldn't wait to talk to her again and he definitely couldn't wait for her to meet Stephanie and Rebecca. And if there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that he had never been so angry at his father. The entire time while they were growing up everyone always said that he was the calm twin and Katie had the temper. He was usually the rational one and helped calm his sister down. But not this time, Colin knew that he wouldn't be speaking to his father for a very long time and he wasn't sure he would ever forgive him. He couldn't think about that now though because he had arrived at Stephanie's office to pick her up. When he walked in he was greeted by the receptionist, Lily.

"Hi Mr. McCrea how are you doing today?" the younger woman asked him with a smile.

"How many times have I told you to call me Colin Lily? And I'm fine how are you?"

"I'm good Colin and Stephanie tells me that you two are going to have another baby."

"Yes we are. We actually have a doctor's appointment that I'm here to pick her up for; she will probably be showing off the sonogram tomorrow." He told her with a smile as his favorite blond came out of her office with her cell phone to her ear.

"How could you not tell us this? Even if you weren't sure what it meant you still should have said something. Listen Logan, Colin's here so I have to go but I'm telling you that you should be prepared to have them both mad at you just a little. I got a text from Finn earlier telling me that Katie was very upset. I'll see you tomorrow." Stephanie hung up the phone and gave her husband a kiss hello.

"What were you talking to Logan about?" Colin asked her as they walked out to the car.

"His Aunt Amy." She told him as they started driving to the doctor's office.

"His what?!"

"His Aunt Amy. Apparently the same Amy that Andrew doesn't like to talk about is the oldest female Huntzberger. He met her once when Mitchum took them on a family vacation to Ireland and he met her again when he was there with Rory. He said he had no idea that she was your mother and if he had he would have told you. So how was lunch?"

"Well I'm not speaking to my father but I did get to talk to my… wait a minute how did you know Amy was my mother?"

"I figured it out. From the way Elias was talking about her and the look on Andrew's face when Katie demanded that they have lunch. I figured that she was probably your mother and the text I got from Finn confirmed it. So you got to talk to her, tell me about it."

"It was nice. Katie and I told her what was going on in our lives. She wants to meet you and Becca. She told us what was going on in her life and I'm going to send her pictures of us and the sonogram." Stephanie couldn't help but smile at how happy Colin seemed to be. For the first time since they had met Colin seemed to be finally content with his life. Not that he wasn't happy before but Stephanie knew him almost better then she knew herself and she knew that he had always felt like something was missing from his life. And from the look on his face after having one conversation with his mother, he finally found that missing piece.

"Well then I guess we should get going so we can send her the picture of her new grandbaby. I think we should send her those pictures of us at the lake last summer because they came out really good." Colin just smiled and listened to his wife talk about what pictures they should send to his mother.

_Meanwhile in Ireland_

After hanging up the phone Amy just sat there in stunned silence, with tears shinning in her eyes. That was how her husband, son and future daughter-in-law found her twenty minutes later. Charlie studied the look on her face, trying to figure out if the phone call went well.

"Sweetheart are you alright?" he asked her. Amy turned to face the three of them at the sound of his voice.

"Charlie they're real, they're perfect and healthy and happy. They have families and jobs. My babies are all grown up and they called me. Colin and his wife are about to have another baby and Katie has four babies. I can't believe I got to talk to them and maybe someday soon I will get to see them." Amy had tears of joy rolling down her face as she told her family about the phone call. Sean didn't know what to think or how to feel but as he stood there listening to his mother he was reminded of what Emma said to him before she left for University so many years ago.

_Five year old Sean was standing on the balcony of his Aunt and Uncle's house watching his father comfort his mother. Nobody seemed to notice his parents leave the house but him. Emma was on the phone with one of her friends and his Uncle Carter and Aunt Maggie were trying to clean up dinner. Sean didn't know what made him follow his parents but whatever it was it also stopped him from going all the way to the lake where his parents had stopped. He had been there about five minutes when Emma found him._

_ "Sean are you alright?" His sister asked him. The little boy looked over at her with sadness in his eyes._

_ "Emma what's wrong with Mom?" Emma sighed and motioned for him to sit down on the bench behind them. _

_ "She's sad. When she moved here and married Dad she left behind two people that she loves very much and misses them a lot."_

_ "Who are they?"_

_ "I'm not sure I can tell you that, but if you just do what Mom needs you too during her sad times maybe someday she will tell you."_

Over the years Sean had come up with many ideas about who his Mom had left behind but never in his wildest imagination did he ever think that she had two kids.

"Mom, who are Katie and Colin?" Amy pulled away from her husband and went over to her youngest son.

"There are so many answers to that question sweetie. The simplest one is that Colin and Katie are your brother and sister."

"Yeah I figured that out from what you were telling Dad. What I want to know is how I have never heard of them till now." Amy smiled at him and motioned that the two of them should sit down.

"I know that you have questions and I will answer them I promise but not tonight. I'm going to get some sleep and tomorrow I will tell you what you want to know."

"Ok night then, I'll see you tomorrow." Sean told his parents before taking Hollie and going to their room. Amy and Charlie followed them two minutes later.

_I was surprised how easy it was to pretend that Anthony was my boyfriend. Everybody believed that we were together and sometimes I had to remind myself that it wasn't real. The only time I remembered it wasn't real and that it had to end sometime was when I talked to Mary. We talked to each other once a week and most of the time the conversation flowed easily just like it did when we were at school together. When I talked to her it felt like the world I was living in at Yale just fell away. At the end of every conversation she told me how Chad was doing and it always crashed me back into reality. About a year into Anthony's and my relationship Mary called me with some news that broke my heart._

_ "Anna how has your week been?" I smiled at the sound of my best friend's voice._

_ "Great I am officially done with finals and free for the summer. How about you?"_

_ "I'm done for the year too. Now can we talk about you bringing that man of yours to come see us this summer?" She asked me. There was something in her voice that made me think there was something going on._

_ "I don't know about that it depends what he has going on. Why do I have a feeling that you have something to tell me?"_

_ "Because I do."_

_ "Just tell me Mary and get it over with."_

_ "Chad is engaged." The second the words were out of her mouth I felt my heart break all over again. The stabbing pain that went through my heart when Chad had told me he didn't want to be with me came back again. I took a deep breath and held back my tears before answering her._

_ "Really? Did he ask you to tell me?"_

_ "No, I think he is planning on calling you sometime soon. They decided to invite both of you. Meaning you and Anthony. Think about it Anna it might be good for you." After she hung up I thought about what she had said. I didn't understand why Chad had started seeing this woman and why he decided he had to marry her. He had told me that he wanted to wait until we would both be in the same place and could be together. Then he went and started dating someone, after he said he would wait for me. I would be lying if I said that didn't hurt me. I didn't want to talk to him and I hoped to God that if he did call me I wouldn't be home._

_I got my wish. Three weeks later I came home to a message on my machine from Chad._

_ "Hey Anna it's Chad. I know Mary already told you but I felt like I should tell you anyway. I'm engaged Anna. I know that you aren't real happy with me right now but I really hope you come to the wedding. I want to talk to you and I would really like you to meet Ashley. Hope to see you soon bye."_

_I had no plans to go to the wedding. Anthony was going to work at his father's office for the summer and I planned to stay with him. For the first six weeks of the summer that was what happened. I enrolled in some summer classes and Anthony worked for his father. We would meet up at our apartment at night and spend time together. Almost halfway through the summer Anthony found the invitation to Chad's wedding and we got into a huge fight. _

_ "Anna what is this?" Anthony asked me. I looked up at him and saw him holding a cream colored envelope. My blood ran cold when I saw what he had in his hand. Ever since he came home and heard Chad's message on the answering machine, he hated any mention of Chad. I sighed and prepared to fight with him._

_ "It's an invitation." I told him. _

_ "To what exactly?"_

_ "A wedding." I sighed as I answered him. He knew all these answers already; he just wanted to hear me say them._

_ "Whose?"_

_ "Chad's."_

_ "And you were going to tell me about this when? Are you going?" His was angry and getting that accusatory tone to voice. The one where it sounded like he wanted to ask me if I was going to leave him for Chad, the one that pissed me off._

_ "No I wasn't planning on telling you because every time I mention Chad you get angry and I didn't want to fight with you."_

_ "Well I'm sorry if I don't like it when my girlfriend talks about her ex-boyfriend. You never answered my question are you going?" Now I was really mad. I hated it when he acted all possessive of me._

_ "Excuse me? First of all I am NOT your girlfriend. We are just pretending so your father will leave you alone. So you have NO right to get jealous of Chad, who was never even my boyfriend. Second, not that it is any of your business I'm not going. I think you owe me an apology and if you don't want to apologize then you can find somewhere else to stay tonight." Anthony didn't say anything just turned around and left the apartment. I had a hard time getting to sleep that night and when I woke up the next morning I was still extremely pissed off. By the time I got home that night I still hadn't heard from Anthony and I felt like I needed to do something. So I made a phone call and packed a bag. Eight hours later I was in Ireland._

_I rented a car and pointed it in the direction of my favorite Irish town, three hours later I pulled into the parking lot of the biggest hotel in town. After making small talk with the older lady that ran it, I went upstairs and slept for the next twenty-four hours. I had no intentions of going to Mary's childhood home. I didn't want to watch or be involved the preparations for the wedding, it would hurt too much. I knew that there was no way I could slip in and out of town unnoticed, I spent a lot of time in these streets and the townsfolk knew me as well as they knew Mary and Chris. But I also knew that they wouldn't come see me, they would wait for me to call them and if I didn't they would leave me alone. I knew the minute I walked into the hotel that Mary's mother would know I was there by the next morning. When I woke up I decided to get breakfast in the restaurant. I sat in the back corner so I could be alone and watch people come and go, which was one of my favorite things to do. I was halfway through my food when I saw Mary's parents with another couple about their age come in to get a to go order. I just sat there and watched them, frozen the waitress coming over to refill my coffee snapped me back to reality._

_ "Those are her parents you know." She said to me as she poured the coffee._

_ "Whose parents?" I found myself asking her._

_ "Ashley's." she told me looking straight in my eyes._

_ "Oh."_

_ "They're happy Anna."_

_ "I know." I told her not really convincing myself I believed it. I left a few minutes later. What was I doing here? Did I really come to watch Chad marry someone else? Did I really believe that he was happy with Ashley? I wandered the town as I thought about these questions and ended up down at the lake, which was my favorite place to think when I was here. It was also the place where I spent the most time with Chad. Around three o'clock I started to head back into town but instead of going back the way I came I took the path that went behind Mary's house. As I came up on the house I noticed that the wedding had just started but I couldn't make myself just pass it by and continue my way back to the hotel. Instead I quietly opened the gate and slipped into the backyard. I stood close enough to hear what was being said but far enough away to not be noticed. Watching Chad marry someone else was sad and felt like the end of an era. Standing there I couldn't help but feel like the part of me that started to drown when Chad broke my heart had finally stopped trying to come up for air and died. I left halfway through the ceremony, checked out of the hotel and got on the next flight to Hartford._

_ When I got back to the apartment Anthony was home and we talked without really talking._

_ "Where did you go Anna? Or am I not allowed to ask that?" Anthony said quietly when I came in the door. I set my stuff down and looked at him. He was sitting on the couch working on something for his Dad. He had this sad look on his face, like someone had taken away his Black Card._

_ "You can ask. I actually finished something that I should have a long time ago. Where were you?" I asked him._

_ "I stayed with one of my friends." He answered me without looking up from his work. I sighed before heading into my room to unpack. Over the next year that was how our relationship was. We would only talk to each other if we had to and we were always busy. It was as if we planed things to do on purpose so we didn't have to deal with one another. Around the end of junior year I got a phone call that changed things. I was just coming in the apartment after my last final to the phone ringing._

_ "Hello." I answered breathlessly._

_ "Hi Anna its Chris, do you have a second?" the accented voice of my best friend asked. It was rare for me to hear from Chris unless I had been talking to Mary beforehand and he sounded slightly nervous._

_ "Yeah, is there something wrong?"_

_ "No nothing's wrong I just need your opinion on something, before I do though I need to know that you won't tell Mary." That was weird too; the three of us shared almost everything._

_ "Alright I won't tell Mary, what did you need?" I heard him sigh in relief with my promise._

_ "I need you to come to Ireland."_

_ "You need me to come to Ireland? There has to be more to it than that."_

_ "Well I am actually planning on proposing to Mary and I need help. Help that only you can give." I couldn't help but become excited for them. I couldn't think of two people who were more made for each other then Mary and Chris. I also found it slightly amusing that Chris was nervous because I had no doubt in my mind that she would say yes._

_ "You're proposing?! Finally! Of course I will help you. What exactly do you need help with? Her ring, how you're going to do it, or both?" I asked him excitedly._

_ "Both actually. I have been looking at rings but can't seem to find the perfect one. The one that just screams 'Mary'."_

_ "I can help with that but I can't just randomly show up in town. I think I will have to bring Anthony with me as an excuse. I'll talk to him about it and get back to you. Either way I will most likely be there by the end of next week."_

_ "Alright thanks Anna, just let me know when your flight gets in and I will pick you up."_

_ "See you in a week." I hung up the phone with a big smile that hadn't made an appearance in almost a year, which was probably why Anthony looked at me oddly when he came in._

_ "What has got you in such a good mood?" Looking up at him my sudden good mood didn't wavier like it usually did when he came home._

_ "My two best friends are getting married!" I declared, jumping up and hugging him like a five-year old on Christmas. He jumped a little at my touch but then relaxed into it._

_ "That's great, so what does that mean for the summer? Are you going to be spending it in Ireland?" He asked quietly into my hair. _

_ "Well they're not technically engaged yet but Chris is having a hard time planning it and picking out the ring. So I was going to go over there next week to help him and I was hoping that you would come with me." I explained looking straight into his eyes, which I saw go wide in surprise._

_ "You want me to come with you?"_

_ "Yeah I do. I know that we haven't really been on the best of terms for a while but I want you to see Ireland. I want you to meet my friends, plus I think it would be good for us."_

_ "Alright if you really want me to go I will. I would love to meet your friends." He seemed a little unsure, not convinced that I wanted to fix what was wrong with us. Or maybe he was afraid of what would happen once we were in Ireland. No matter what he was thinking he still agreed to go with me. Over the next week Anthony and I got back to being each other's friend. We let ourselves become comfortable in our relationship again and by the time we left for Ireland were acting almost exactly like we had been before our big fight, with some changes. Before our fight we never did the cutesy new couple stuff, like sneak off for long lunches holding hands and stealing kisses. However those things became a part of our daily routine after our fight. There was only one thing holding us back, Ireland. _

_ "Anna I want you to know that I'm going to do my best not to let him bother me." Anthony told me as the plane was landing. I turned to look him in the eyes and saw that he was serious._

_ "I know you will." I told him. That was the only time either one of us had said anything about what we were really afraid of, what I was really afraid of. I was scared that the moment I stepped back into the world that I had left so suddenly three years before, I would become that girl again. The girl I was before my mother died, the one Chad had come to save that night he showed up at my apartment, the one that died the day Chad married Ashley. I didn't want to become that person mostly because I was afraid that I would lose Anthony completely if I did. As we got off the plane I did my best to push my fears to the back of my mind and focus on why I was really here, which became much easier the second I saw my best friend rushing towards me._

_ "You're here! I can't believe it! It's been too long since we have seen each other. I almost couldn't believe it when Chris told me. By the way why did I have to hear about this from Chris?" Mary said while trying to squeeze me to death._

_ "Can't…breathe" I responded breathlessly._

_ "Oh sorry." She said as she let go._

_ "It's alright I'm glad to see you too Mary and to answer your question I wanted it to be a surprise. How have you been? You look good."_

_ "Thanks, so do you. I've been good. There isn't really anything new to report here. I'm actually glad you decided to visit because I wasn't really looking forward to spending another summer hanging out in this tiny town with nothing to do but help my family out at the restaurant." Mary told me as we started to walk through the airport. Chris laughed and shook his head at the sight of Mary and I leaving him and Anthony behind._

_ "If we don't follow them then they will leave us here. I'm Chris by the way." Anthony laughed at the idea of me just leaving him there, not really believing it. Then when he saw that we weren't going to stop he started following._

_ "Anthony Michaels it's nice to finally meet you guys. Anna talks about you all the time." Mary and I were waiting for them when they finally caught up to us in baggage claim._

_ "Hi boys nice of you to finally join us, we were thinking we should have lunch at the restaurant before heading over to the house. How does that sound?" Mary asked them._

_ "Sounds good to me Babe, hi Anna how are you?" Chris answered her._

_ "I'm great actually Chris and you?"_

_ "Pretty perfect, now why don't you ladies let us get the bags and we will meet you at the car?" Mary and I quickly agreed before leaving them._

_ "Why do I have a feeling that getting her alone while we're here is going to be very difficult?" Anthony asked as they gathered the bags and made their way to the car._

_ "Because it is going to be extremely difficult if not impossible, those two are completely inseparable when they are together." Chris told the man._

_Mary didn't say one word and barely glanced at Anthony until we had been seated for lunch. I liked to think it was because she missed me and wanted to catch up but I knew that was only part of the reason. The other part was that she wanted to wait until she had a chance to really inspect Anthony, to make sure he was good enough for me._

_ "Alright now that we are settled we can get down to business. I'm sorry for not introducing myself before. I'm Mary and it's nice to meet you." My best friend stated while looking directly at Anthony, who just looked right back at her as he answered._

_ "Anthony Michaels nice to finally meet you."_

_ "I have questions that I, as Anna's best friend and unofficial sister, need you to answer before I can deem you worthy." Anthony just smiled._

_ "Ask away."_

_ "What are you going to school for?"_

_ "I'm going to be a lawyer, it's a family thing."_

_ "How do you feel about Anna working for a living?"_

_ "If it makes her happy, then she can do whatever she wants."_

_ "Alright last question. How do you feel about the way people in your world act and treat people?"_

_ "Good question. I don't like the way they treat people that work for them like dirt. I don't like that they pretend to be friends with someone only to turn around and discuss who her husband is sleeping with that week or how he had to go bail his kid out of jail again. Especially when the same things are most likely happening in their personal lives."_

_ "I'm impressed. I haven't seen Anna this happy in a while and I know what you're thinking. How can I have seen if she has been this happy or not if I haven't seen her? Well I've known her long enough to be able to hear it in her voice. And she didn't even sound this happy the last time I talked to her. In fact she didn't seem to be happy all the times I talked to her in the past year no matter how hard she tried to convince me she was. I don't know for sure what you two were fighting about but I have a pretty good idea and I don't know the cause of the sudden change. But to be honest Anthony I don't think I want to know. I want to like you and as long as Anna stays happy and you don't hurt her then you and I will have no problems. However the second you do something that hurts her is the second you become enemy number one."_

_ "That seems fair enough." Anthony told her. _

_After I was done introducing Anthony to my friends, I started to show him around town. We had been in town almost a week before Chris cornered me about helping him._

_ "Anna I was thinking you could help me today because Mary told Bryan that she would cover his shift at the restaurant. So will you do it?" I couldn't help but smile at how nervous he seemed._

_ "Of course, that's why I'm here remember? But we might have to bring Anthony with us if that's ok?" I told him._

_ "Actually I have plans already so you two can go do your thing without me." Anthony announced to us. I looked at him oddly._

_ "Who could you have plans with? I didn't know you knew anybody in Ireland."_

_ "I don't but the guys decided to take a trip through Europe this summer and when I talked to them last they said they would be in Ireland the same time we were going to be here so we made plans. All I need is a ride into the city." My boyfriend said with a smile._

_ "We can give you a ride if you want." Chris told him._

_ "A ride where?" Mary asked coming into the room dressed for work._

_ "Into the city my love. Since you are going to be at work all day I figured I would take Anna and Anthony into the city to wander around for the day. Then when we get back I'll make dinner and we can watch a movie or something." Chris answered her quickly._

_ "Sounds like a plan but we are watching a love story because last time we watched what you wanted to my dear. I got to go to work have fun today you guys." She said before leaving the house._

_ "Why did you tell her that?" Anthony asked._

_ "Honey if he had told her that you were going to meet up with your friends she would have been suspicious as to why Chris and I were going into the city because we don't really hang out in the city unless we are going shopping. He has a hard enough time keeping secrets from her as it is and this is something that shouldn't be spoiled. Now go get ready." The ride into the city was uneventful and after dropping Anthony off Chris and I spent the next several hours looking at rings. Chris was completely frustrated by the time we left to go meet Anthony._

_ "How am I suppose to pull this off if I can't find a ring?" He asked us on the way home._

_ "I don't know Chris but the perfect one is out there and we will find it I promise." I tried to reassure him._

_ "Have you thought about how you're going to do it yet? Maybe if you figure that out everything else will fall into place." Anthony suggested_

_ "That sounds like a great idea thanks Hun. So do you have any ideas about that Chris?"_

_ "Not really just that I want it to be simple like she is but romantic at the same time."_

_ "How about a picnic down by the lake behind your Dad's place?" I suggested._

_ "That's perfect, now hopefully the ring will just magically fall into my lap." Chris said as we pulled into the driveway of Mary's family home. As soon as we walked in the door Mary's mom came to meet us._

_ "Hey kids how was the city? Did you find what you were looking for Chris?" Chris just smiled at his future mother-in-law and shook his head._

_ "No not yet but I know how I'm going to do it now at least."_

_ "Well that's goods sweetheart, your father called while you were gone and asked that you stop by when you got home. Why don't you take Anna and Anthony? I'm sure he would love to see them." Chris just nodded and turned around to go back outside._

_ "How about it guys you want to go see my dad?"_

_ "I would love to see your dad. Come on Anthony let's go." The walk to Chris's house was nice and only took about five minutes. When we got there Chris's dad, Dean was waiting for us._

_ "Hey there young lady I heard you were in town and I was wondering when you were going to come see Me." the older man greeted me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek._

_ "Well I'm sorry but it takes at least two days to introduce Mary's family to new people. Speaking of new people, Dean I would like to introduce you to Anthony Michaels, my boyfriend. Anthony this is Chris's dad Dean." I told him returning his hug and smile._

_ "It's nice to meet you sir." Anthony said reaching out to shake his hand._

_ "Well now what a gentleman you have here Ms. Anna. It's nice to meet you as well Anthony and please call me Dean. Now come inside you three I have something I would like to show you." We followed Dean inside and into the living room. After we were settled with refreshments Dean drew our attention to what was on the table in front of us._

_ "Chris when you told me that you were going to propose it got me thinking about the time I proposed. I was the same age as you are when I asked your mother to marry me and terrified she would say no. I know that I don't tell you all that often but I'm glad she didn't turn me down and we got the time together that we did. Now my memory isn't what it used to be which is why I pulled out this old photo album. One of the things that irritated me about your mother was that she left things everywhere and in the craziest places. So finding something in this photo album shouldn't have surprised me but it did. I think what surprised me the most was that it made sense to me. You see the odd places she put things never made any sense to anyone but her." Dean paused in his story to take a breath._

_ "Not that I don't enjoy hearing about Mom but why are you telling me this?" Chris asked his father._

_ "She knew she was dying Chris. I didn't want to believe it; I couldn't believe it and she knew that. She knew that she had to let me pretend that everything was going to be alright or else I would never get through it. I have been finding little things throughout this house for years, things that she left for me to find. I think in the end she left them because she knew I wouldn't find them for years after she was gone, when I could handle it better. But this one is the most precious thing that she left and she didn't even leave it for me. It's also the first one she felt she had to explain, which she did in a letter. I'm suppose to read it to you." Dean stopped again._

_ "Chris if you don't want us here we can go." I told him quietly._

_ "No it's alright you can stay. Go on Dad read it."_

_ "Dear Dean,_

_ Hi honey, I know that you have probably been finding little things all over the house for years, things I left. I did that on purpose because I knew you would get a kick out of it. This one I had to do a little differently because it's special and as much as I love you, this one isn't for you. It's for Chris and if you're sitting there reading this then I hope it means he found a wonderful young woman that he wants to spend his life with. I don't have much to leave my baby boy and this was the best thing I could think of. The next part of this letter I want you to read to him. Chris, when your Father gave me that ring he asked me for forever and I promised forever to him. Unfortunately life didn't work out like that but I was blessed with some good things. I had a man who loved me more than anything else in this world and the most precious little boy. Being your mother was the best job in the world and I would do anything if I could stay to watch you grow up. I have always believed that when a man asks a woman to marry him, he is asking her for forever. I hope that this lucky woman will promise forever to you sweetie. Good Luck and I love you always." When Dean finished reading the letter he reached into the envelope and pulled out a beautiful diamond ring._

_ "That's it. That's Mary's ring, thanks Mom." Chris said quietly with a smile on his face._

_ "I knew it was here somewhere and I'm glad we found it. Knowing your mother she probably had it cleaned before she put it in here but how about I have it cleaned for you anyway?" Dean asked his son._

_ "That sounds good Dad and thanks. We should get going because Mary will be home soon and I promised her dinner and a movie." Chris said giving his father a hug. The three of us said our goodbyes to Dean and walked back to Mary's house. Once we got home we started dinner and as soon as Mary came home we ate. After cleaning up dinner we put in a movie and settled in to watch it. About twenty minutes into the movie the phone rang. Mary answered it and once she hung up came and whispered in my ear._

_ "Chad's here, he's at the restaurant and would like you to meet him out in the back yard in about five minutes. He wants to talk to you but if you don't want to he said he understands. He said he would wait ten minutes and then be gone." I just nodded in response to what she said. Anthony and Chris looked over at us with questions in their eyes but we said nothing. I didn't know if I wanted to talk to Chad or even see him. A part of me did but the other part of me wasn't sure it was a good idea. I sat there watching the movie and the clock, when the five minutes had passed I got up and went out the back door. I still wasn't sure I wanted to see him but I went anyway slightly on auto polite. Behind me I could hear Anthony question Mary but it felt like they were a world away._

_ "Where is she going?"_

_ "Just let her go Anthony, this is something she needs to do."_

_I walked out the back door and looked around. At first glance it was empty and I seriously considered going back inside. Deep down I knew better then to think he wasn't there, Chad wasn't stupid. If he went to all this trouble to meet me in secret then he wouldn't throw that away by waiting out in the open. So I made my way across the yard and stopped when I saw the gate was open. The family normally left it closed and it being open meant that he was really here and I was really on my way to talk to him. I made my way down the path and stopped when I saw him. He was sitting up on the big rocks just like we use to so many times before. He seemed to be watching the sun set and I couldn't help but stare at him. He didn't look any different than he did the last time I saw him, he still had the same broad shoulders and he still had the same quite strength that pulled me to him. The fading sunlight was reflecting off of his soft brown hair and I had no doubt that his eyes would be the same bright blue they had always been._

_ "I didn't think you'd come." He said suddenly. I closed my eyes as the sound of his voice washed over me like a breeze. Standing there watching him for a brief moment I let myself think that the past three years hadn't happened. That he wasn't married and I wasn't trying to make myself be happy with Anthony. When he spoke I closed my eyes thinking that if I opened them everything I tried to forget would come rushing back, that the pain would come back. Finally after a minute I opened them, to my relief I was alright for the moment. He hadn't moved and I was glad for that. If he had I probably never would have answered him._

_ "How did you know I was here?"_

_ "I don't know. The same way you knew I would be here when I wasn't in the yard I guess."_

_ "Yeah" I wasn't sure what to say to him or what he even wanted. _

_ "Will you come sit with me?" his was still calm and even._

_ "Why?" I saw his back tense at my question and I suddenly thought that this must be as hard for him as it is for me and considered going to him but then I remembered that he did this to us and stayed where I was._

_ "Because I need to talk to you Anna and this is where we talk. Please will you come talk with me?" He pleaded. I thought about saying no and walking away but I wanted to know what he had to say. So I walked over and climbed up to sit next to him._

_ "What do you want Chad?"_

_ "To apologize for what I did to you and to explain why I did it."_

_ "You told me your reasons. What else could you have to say to me?" My question seemed to sadden him a little. He turned his body towards mine and tried to make eye contact. I refused to look at him so he put his hand on my chin and gently turned my head to meet his gaze. As our eyes locked my mind flashed back to the last time we were in almost the exact same position, as I remembered I could tell he was remembering too._

_ "You need to hear all of it; I need you to hear all of it." I didn't want to hear it but there was still a very small part of me that craved answers and that was the part that seemed to be in control._

_ "Alright."_

_ "Thank you. I meant what I said when we talked on the phone. I wanted to be with you but I also wanted us to last. I knew that trying to make things work long distance wouldn't work and I had planned on waiting for you. For both of us to be in the same country so we could try being together. I even applied for a scholarship so I could go to law school at Yale. I was hoping that with time you would start speaking to me again. I needed you to start speaking to me again because I fell in love with you. I didn't realize it until Mary told me about Anthony. It didn't matter if you weren't dating him or not, just the fact that you could be hurt so much. It was at this point one of my friends that I met my freshman year noticed how down I was and decided I needed a night out. Well you know that I'm not much of a party guy so the night out didn't really work but one of my other friends that I had known just as long happened to be at the party that night. She didn't usually go out either. The next day after classes she asked me if there was something wrong. I was about to blow her off but then I saw my sister and knew that if I blew off my friend I would have to put up with Mary's questions. I didn't want to deal with my sister so I went with my friend. I don't know what made me do it but I told her everything over a cup of really good coffee. That's when she said that it sounded like I was in love. _

_ "And that I should try to find away to be with you. She even helped me with the scholarship application. We spent a lot of time together and I started to rely on her for a lot. I started to really care for her. Around the time acceptance letter were suppose to start coming we had a fight, I don't even remember what it was about but after we calmed down a little she told me she had had enough. When I asked her what that meant, she kissed me. She said that I stole her heart and she had been trying to ignore her feelings because she knew I was in love with you. Then she told me that she couldn't ignore them and that she hoped I got into Yale because maybe if we were apart she could come to a place where she could be my friend. I just stood there in shock trying to process what had just happened. As I thought about what she was saying I realized that I liked her too. I knew in my heart that you and I would be forever once we got together. Suddenly I wasn't ready for that so I kissed her. We started what we both thought would be a fling that would last through summer and end once I went to Yale, to you. And it might have happened that way if her brother hadn't died._

_ "It happened a week before I was suppose to leave for Yale. There was an electrical fire in the building where he was working. It devastated her and she had no one to lean on. Her parents had each other but she had nobody and I just couldn't leave her like that. I was afraid of what she might do if she sank even lower into the depression she was in. So I made a choice and I knew that by staying there I would probably never get my chance to win you back. Helping her helped me let you go and when she was back in one piece I realized that while she wasn't you I did love her. Not the same way I loved you of course but I did and I had also convinced myself that I had blown my chance with you already. The way Mary talked about you and Anthony; I figured you were happy with him, that you had moved on. She knew when I stayed to help her that I would be sacrificing my chance with you and that there would always be a part of me that would love you. So when I proposed she knew that a part of me still wanted you and she accepted it. She knows that I love her and I do. She would love to meet you, she wants to meet you. We both hoped that you would come to the wedding and she doesn't know that you did. That you were there for a part of it." Chad stopped speaking but didn't break the eye contact. It seemed like he was waiting for something but I wasn't sure what._

_ "I know now but that doesn't mean it hurts any less. And why did you feel that you had to tell me in person? You could have sent a letter I would have liked that much better. What did you expect if you told me in person? Did you think that I would forgive you and ask you to run away?" I said to him angrily. He just sat there taking my anger knowing he deserved it._

_ "No I didn't think you would forgive me and want to run away. Although had we had this conversation a few months ago and you asked me that question I would have said yes. If you had asked me to run away with you I would have said yes but I won't say yes now just like you won't ask me." He responded getting a little worked up too. I jumped off the rocks we were sitting on and started to walk away not wanting to hear anymore. Chad followed me and grabbed my arm before I got very far._

_ "Let go of me! You said what you wanted to now let me go!"_

_ "No, we need to finish this. You need to know something else and so do I. She's pregnant due at the end of the summer. I asked Mary not to tell you because I wanted to."_

_ "Congratulations. Can I go now?" I asked._

_ "No I need you to answer something for me." He said looking into my eyes again._

_ "I want to know if he makes you happy. If you love him." I stood there for a few minutes just looking at him. As I stood there I suddenly realized what he must have gone through and how holding on to the pain and the anger was keeping us both from moving on. He needed to know that I was happy so he could be happy. If I let go then I could truly let Anthony in and love him the way I was sure he loved me._

_ "Yes he does." Chad nodded and let me go. I turned around and headed back to the house. As I was leaving I heard him speak one more time._

_ "If you ever need anything call me and I'll be there. Always." I smiled a real smile and then made my way back to Anthony._

**Ok I can't even begin to express how sorry I am for leaving this as long as I did. I have no excuse for you except that I fell in love and got kicked out of my house. So that is what has been taking up a lot of my time. At least you get a long chapter out of it. I hope I still have readers out there. Anyway I am hoping to have some more time on my hands because my boyfriend is going back to school and he also works full time and since I can't afford to go back to school at the moment I have some free time on my hands. And I will do my best to fill it by writing. I am pretty sure this story has only a few chapters left and after that I will try to start the sequel to Saving Logan. Hope you guys are still out there reading. Again I'm really sorry but I would still like to know what you think.**

**Brianna**


	8. Closure

_After my talk with Chad things started to get better, I felt like a chapter of my life had finally been closed and there was nothing left to do but move forward. The rest of our visit to Ireland went by without anything major really happening. Alright that's not true, Mary and Chris did get engaged and Mary insisted that we start making plans right away. Of course Mary was only able to decide on two things before Anthony and I left, who her maid of honor was going to be and when she wanted to get married. One other thing happened the night before we were set to leave. It was after supper and all of us were just hanging out talking about the wedding. I was sitting there watching Anthony talk to my friends and realized how lucky I was to have found him. It was at that moment that I decided I needed to tell him how much he meant to me._

_ "Anthony would you like to go for a walk?" I asked him. He looked up from his conversation with Chris slightly surprised._

_ "Sure." He answered. We got up and went out the front door in silence. We walked in silence for a few minutes, while I tried to come up with how to say what I needed too. We were at the lake before I figured out how to say it._

_ "I needed this trip, and I needed you to make this trip with me. I spent a lot of time here when I was away at school. It was my hiding place, the place where I could pretend that Hartford and my family didn't exist. I didn't want to be a part of that world, of that life. All the people that you've met were a big part of helping me do that. When my mother died I came back to the world that I was trying so hard to stay away from, but a big part of me was still here. That part of me was doing all that it could to stay alive, to keep Society from suffocating it to death. The summer before I started Yale was one of the hardest times of my life and I wanted very desperately to escape. When Chad came to visit me I felt myself come alive again, at least the part that was being suffocated. His visit gave me hope that I wouldn't be trapped in this world forever, that I would be able to come back here and be happy one day. About a month into the semester he crushed my hope and the person I was here started to drown again. Meeting you helped me feel a little bit better, you didn't bring the person I was back but you started to bring out the person that I could have been. The one I might have been if I hadn't gone away to boarding school. It's been hard for me to be that person and let the one I used to be go. When I'm with you I find it easier to be her, to be the woman that you seem to care about so much. After our fight last year I came here, this strange feeling came over me and before I could stop myself I was on my way to Ireland. At one point I went for a walk and ended up down here. This was my favorite place to come to when I needed to get away and Chad and I spent a lot of time sitting on those rocks over there just talking." I paused in my story and pointed across the lake where Chad and I had talked just a few days ago._

_ "That day I came here by walking the path that everybody uses to get to the lake but on my way back I decided to take the path that goes behind Mary's house. When I came to the house Chad was in the middle of getting married. I stayed and watched only for a few minutes but that was all it took for the girl I used to be to die completely. I didn't know where to go from there. I didn't know how to move on and be the person you brought out in me full time. Getting that call from Chris pushed me to take the first step and I am so glad that we made up. This trip has helped me to realize that I'm free, that I have finally let go of what use to be and what could have been. Doing that has made me realize that I love you and I want to make this work. I can't promise you that I will be the perfect girlfriend but I can promise you that I will try." While I had been speaking Anthony stood there listening quietly, his facial expression not changing a bit. Now that I was done he still stood there silently looking off towards the rocks. He stayed like that for a few minutes before speaking._

_ "Thank you for that. I needed to here it and just so you know I love you too. I want this to be real Anna; I want us to be real because I'm so in love with you that I don't think I could ever be with anyone else. I am going to make you a promise. I promise that I will do my best not to be a jackass when you talk about your friends and by friends I mean Chad. He was a part of your life for so long and I don't want to keep you from being his friend. I'm not perfect but I will do my best to be the man that you deserve." He said to me with a smile. _

_From that moment on Anthony and I became a normal couple. I loved saying that and told Mary that all the time. She would call about the wedding plans and then asking how things were going with Anthony. I always told her the same thing:_

"_Things are going great. We are a normal happy couple just like you and Chris." I could always tell she was rolling her eyes on the other end of the phone before she responded:_

"_Anna, Chris and I aren't normal we're insane and our relationship is a little too happily ever after sometimes. But I'm glad you're happy." I couldn't help but smile every time she said that. I was happy and for the first time in my life I felt like nothing could ruin it. Of course I should have realized that I wouldn't be able to be happy in that world for long. If I had maybe I would have been prepared for what happened next. Maybe things would have turned out differently than they did._

Andrew McCrea glanced sadly at the group of people talking in the break room as he passed it on his way to his office. He wanted desperately to be a part of what they were talking about but the decision he made thirty-three years ago kept him from getting to know what they were talking about. They were looking at pictures of his new grandson and he hadn't seen them. He hadn't even met the baby because Colin was still mad at him. It had been six months since either one of his children had spoken to him, he only learned about the baby because Colin had his assistant send him an email. It was short and to the point.

Andrew,

Stephanie has asked me to inform you of the birth of our son. Adam Nathaniel McCrea was born on September 3, 2016. He was eight pounds six ounces and perfectly healthy.

Colin.

That was the first time he had heard even a tiny bit of information about Colin and Katie's lives. He knew that Colin was bringing pictures to show everyone and he also knew that his son was making sure that none of those pictures where shown to him. Not being a part of Katie and Colin's lives was miserable, but Andrew knew that he deserved this. He couldn't help but wonder if this was how Amy felt for all those years that he kept them from her. He wanted to do something to try and earn their forgiveness but he didn't know if there was anything he could do. He knew that it would have to be one of them to make the first move and he wasn't sure that they ever would. He had hoped that Colin wouldn't keep him from his grandson but his hope was dashed every time he heard new pictures were floating around and he never got to see them. When he got to his office he started to work and did pretty well for a while but around lunch time his ability to focus flew right out the window. He looked up and remembered the event that took place in this office over thirty-two years ago, the event that got him to where he was right now. This wasn't the first time this had happened in the last six months and Andrew knew it wouldn't be the last. As he was trying to get his focus back his assistant came in with a package for him.

"This just came for you Mr. McCrea."

"Thanks Julia." He said to the woman as he took the package from her. It was wrapped in brown paper with an envelope taped to the front. It felt like a book and he normally would have just thrown it in a drawer and forgotten about it but there was something about it that made him want to know what it was and who it was from. So he tore the envelope off and read the letter inside.

Dad,

Rory came across this book right before Ryan was born and from the moment she told me about it I was intrigued. For some unknown reason I felt like I needed to read this book. I think someone was trying to tell me that I would need it to handle what was about to happen in my life. It helped me and no it's not a self-help book. I find it a little strange that Colin is angrier at you then I am. Our entire lives Colin has been the one with the cooler head and I have been the one that stays angry. Mom tells me that she always knew I would look like her but would inherit the McCrea family temper. And that Colin would look like you but be more like her and handle things more silently. When I told her that our reactions had flipped she said maybe Colin was more like you then she thought. I have enjoyed getting to know her and she has told us her side of the story. Colin is convinced that you are the only bad guy, that Mom did nothing wrong. I believe that you both loved each other but in the end it just wasn't going to work no matter how hard you tried. I think that in time I can forgive you and that maybe if this book helps you to understand things a little better you might be able to earn Mom's forgiveness as well. Nobody knows that I am giving this to you and Mom doesn't even know that I have it. Make sure you read the Author's note and dedication at the beginning. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

Katie.

Andrew couldn't believe his eyes when he saw his daughter's handwriting nor could he believe it when he read that she might forgive him someday. 'This must be some book'. He thought to himself as he tore the brown paper to reveal The Book. It looked like any other book that you could pick up at the local bookstore. He didn't know how this book could help him understand things or even why it might help him earn Amy's forgiveness but he wanted to try. So he packed his things and sent Julia home for the day, then headed home himself. Once he got home he poured himself a drink and settled in to read, starting with the Author's note.

_Dear Readers,_

_ When I started writing this I never had any intention of getting it published. It was just supposed to be something to help me move on from a difficult chapter in my life. I am told however that it is a beautifully written story that others should get a chance to read, so I put it out there for others to enjoy. The first time this was published I got several letters from people asking me if this was a true story and if it was why did I publish it as fiction? Well here are your answers. Yes this is based on a part of my life that was wonderful and painful at the same time. The reason I published it as fiction is because this story could hurt certain people and change their lives forever. I hope you enjoy this story, my story._

_I dedicate this to my two little Angels, who blessed me when I needed them most. Wherever you are and whatever you're doing please know that I love you. Always and forever, no matter what. _

For the rest of the day and long into the night Andrew let himself become lost inside the story. When he finally closed The Book shortly after one in the morning, he just sat there in shock. As he sat there the realization of what he had done seemed to finally register in his mind. And all of a sudden Andrew felt his chest constrict in pain, as if all the feelings he tried to bury so long ago had come racing back. He felt like he was being stabbed in the chest with a sharp knife and he found himself crying for the first time in thirty-three years. He sat there for a full five minutes crying before the pain in his chest got so bad that he decided to get some water. He didn't make three steps before he collapsed on the floor.

Colin McCrea couldn't remember the last time he went this long without talking to his father, but he also couldn't remember his father ever doing something this bad. The last six months had been really hard for Colin because unlike a lot of his friends he and his Dad actually had a pretty good relationship. Sure Andrew could be an ass every once in a while but so could Colin. When he was younger he came up with a million different reasons as to why his mother wasn't a part of his life and why Andrew didn't talk about her. Never did imagine something as horrible as this. Getting to know his Mom and the family he had in Ireland was great but there was a part of him that couldn't help feeling like he was trying to use them to fill the hole where his Dad had once been. Katie was doing a lot better than he was which was surprising because it was usually the other way around. He was usually the calm understanding one and Katie was the angry one but for some reason she understood better than he did. Colin had no experience being the angry twin, his sister even joked once that he couldn't handle being the angry one because he was too much of a softy. He knew now that being mad wasn't as easy as Katie made it seem. She was better at it than he was, she could handle it without alienating her friends and family. He couldn't.

_ The week Stephanie got home from the hospital was the same week it was the McCrea's turn to host the weekly dinner. Katie had offered to have it at her house to make it easier on Stephanie but the new mother had insisted on hosting it. At first the evening went like expected, the children entertained themselves while the women fussed over how cute Adam was. Halfway through dinner Rory asked how it was going with Amy and the mood changed._

_ "It's going great actually. I'm really glad that I have a chance to know my Mom and I can't wait until we can go to Ireland so she can meet the kids. It's really nice to have her be a part of my life. I always felt like something was missing maybe and now I can honestly say that I don't feel like that anymore." Katie answered._

_ "What about your Dad? Are you still not talking to him?" Rory asked._

_ "Yeah we still aren't speaking but I think that someday I'll be able to forgive him." As those words came out of his sisters mouth Colin got so mad that he felt like steam would be coming out of his ears if he were a cartoon._

_ "Katie how can you say that? The man lied to us and kept us from our mother! What kind of person does that?" Colin asked his sister angrily._

_ "Yes he did Colin but after hearing his side of the story and getting to know Mom I understand where he was coming from a little."_

_ "How can you possibly know where he was coming from? The man is a jerk! How can you just keep the woman you supposedly love away from her children? How can you justify that?"_

_ "You know what Colin I could try and explain my reasons to you but you are so pissed off at him that you won't get it. You need to find away to get past your anger because if you don't then you might wake up one day to find yourself alone and not remember how you got there. Take it from me; I know what I'm talking about. I've done the very very angry thing and if I had never found away to get past it then everything that I have now wouldn't exist. My job, my house, my marriage, my kids. None of that would be here if I didn't find a way to forgive Finn. Love makes you do crazy things Colin and whether or not you want to believe it Dad did what he did out of love."_

Shortly after their fight Katie left and they hadn't spoken since. That was almost a month ago. Sure they both went to weekly dinners but didn't say a word to one another. Colin hated fighting with his sister more than anything in the world but he didn't know how to fix it. Stephanie had stopped trying to get them to make up knowing that they would when they were both ready. He just hoped that he could find a way to apologize to his sister before this weekend because after talking on the phone for the last six months Amy was flying in to Hartford with her husband, her son Sean, and Sean's fiancé Hollie. He was contemplating on how to make up with Katie on his way to a meeting when someone calling his name stopped him.

"Mr. McCrea can I speak to you for a moment?" Colin turned and looked at the woman that had spoken. It was Julia Martin, his father's assistant. He was about to make an excuse as to why he couldn't stop to speak to her, believing that what she had to say was a message from his father but before he could she spoke again.

"I know that you aren't talking to your Dad right now but I figured you would want to know that he is in the hospital." As her words sunk in, all the anger Colin had been feeling suddenly melted away and guilt and concern took its place.

"What happened?"

"When he didn't show up for work this morning and I couldn't reach him on his cell phone I called his house. The housekeeper answered and went looking for him. She found him on the floor in his study. It looks like he had a heart attack. He was taken to Hartford Memorial."

"Thanks Julia. Will you please tell my assistant that I'm leaving for the day?" As soon as Julia confirmed she would take care of things, Colin took off towards the elevator. Once inside he got his phone out so he could call his sister.

"Thank you for calling Purple Emerald this is Sophie how can I help you?"

"Sophie its Colin can I speak to my sister please?"

"I'm sorry Mr. McCrea but she is out of the office at the moment can I take a message?"

"I really need to speak to her so if you are just saying she is out and she isn't I need you to put me through. It's an emergency."

"She is really not here. She had a meeting at The Prince this morning and then she was going to stay and have lunch with Mr. Morgan."

"Thanks Sophie." Colin told her before hanging up and dialing the number to the hotel. By the time someone picked up he was in his car on the way to the hospital.

"Finn Morgan's office, how can I help you?"

"Lily it's Colin and I really need to speak to my sister do you know how I could get a hold of her?"

"I haven't seen her this morning Mr. McCrea but I can put you through to Mr. Morgan if you want."

"That would be great thank you Lily." Colin silently urged the traffic to move faster while waiting for his brother-in-law to pick up the phone.

"What can I do for you Colin?" Greeted the accented voice of his best friend.

"Finn I need to get a hold of Katie."

"Colin she doesn't want to talk to you and I don't want to get in the middle of this."

"No Finn it has nothing to do with our fight. Dad had a heart attack and I'm on my way to the hospital. I know that she would want to be there and I figured I could pick her up on my way."

"No Mate you just keep going and we will meet you there."

"Thanks Finn." After hanging up with Finn, Colin called his wife then drove the rest of the way in silence. Once inside the hospital a nurse directed Colin to the Cardiac floor. The nurses there told him that they would page the doctor for him and he could have a seat in the waiting room if he wanted to. That is where Katie found him ten minutes later.

"Colin what happened? What's going on?"

"I don't know yet I'm waiting for the doctor." He told his sister calmly. She just nodded and started pacing the floor nervously. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime a man in a white coat came into the waiting room.

"Andrew McCrea?" The man asked the room prompting Colin and Katie to get up from their chairs.

"I'm Dr. McNally; your father had a heart attack. I want to be able to tell you that he will be fine as long as he isn't stressed and stops eating red meat but I'm afraid that I can't do that right now. When your father fell he hit his head and after doing some test I didn't find any brain damage. But he hasn't regained consciousness since he has been here. For some reason he is in a deep coma and until he comes out of it there isn't really anything we can do for him. I'm sorry."

"Can we see him?" Katie asked. Dr. McNally nodded and the two of them followed him to where Andrew was. The man lying on the bed looked nothing like Andrew McCrea. He was pale, thin, and it looked like he hadn't slept in months. Colin could hardly believe that the man in that bed was his father. He didn't know what to say or how to feel. So he didn't say anything. For the next two days Colin and Katie never left the hospital, they didn't speak to each other. Finally on the third day Finn, Stephanie, Logan, and Rory came to see them.

"How is he doing today?" Stephanie asked. Colin turned and looked at his wife as if he really didn't hear her question.

"No better but no worse either Steph." Katie answered quietly.

"We know that you guys are worried about him and we are too but you can't stay here." Finn said looking directly at his wife, whose eyes flashed in anger. Stephanie seeing this spoke up.

"We understand why you want to stay but Katie it isn't doing anyone any good. You are needed at home. Your kids need you Katie, Finn needs you. As much as he loves those kids he doesn't do very well with them on his own. Plus your Mom is arriving today; in fact she will be here in about an hour. Now I know she would understand but I think you would want to shower and change before having to go meet her."

"Your right Stephanie. Come on Katie we can freshen up at The Prince before we have to go meet Mom. We aren't doing anyone any good by staying here. The Doctor will call us if there is any change." Colin told his sister.

"Fine lets go." Katie said. Rory and Logan offered pick up the kids and meet back at Colin and Stephanie's.

As they freshened up and got ready to go, it suddenly dawned on the twins that they were going to meet their Mom for the first time. And the excitement about meeting her that had been pushed to the side by what was happening to Andrew came bursting out. For the moment it seemed like the two siblings had forgotten about not getting along with each other and the worries they had about Andrew. They four of them were waiting in baggage claim, both couples catching up with the other when they heard it.

"How are we supposed to know them?" a male accented voice asked.

"I told you Carter, Katie will look just like Amy so it will be easy." Answered a female voice with the same accent.

"No I think your wrong, I think Colin will look like his mother and Katie will look like Andrew."

"Wanna bet on that?"

"Sure how about if I'm right you let me get that car I've been wanting and if your right you can redecorate the house anyway you like."

"Guys I would appreciate it if you don't bet on my children." Said a voice that the siblings recognized as their mothers. Katie couldn't help but laugh thinking they sounded just like her and Finn as she turned around to come face to face with her mother for the first time.

"You know I don't mind if they bet on us, especially if it helps them make a decision. Do you mind Colin?" Katie asked her brother with a grin.

"Well I think that they sound just like you and Finn, and if that's the case then what I say or what Mom says really won't make a difference."

"Very true." The couple that had been arguing just smiled at the twins. The woman had dark curly red hair that was streaked with grey, her smile went all the way up to her pretty blue eyes and she was about five feet four inches. The man standing next to her stood about six feet off the ground and his once black hair was turning grey on the sides. His hazel eyes seemed to dance with laughter. The woman standing next to them was rolling her chocolate brown eyes in their direction. Her long, straight, deep auburn hair was pulled back off of her face and the smile that graced her face was the same one Colin wore when he was happy.

"Oh My Goodness! You are both so grown up. I'm mean I knew that of course but still. Katie you are gorgeous and tall! You definitely got that from me. Colin you a lot like your grandfather. You look more Huntzberger than I imagined you would. Now come here both of you and give your mother a hug." Amy said to them with tears in her eyes. Colin and Katie exchanged a smile before wrapping themselves in their mother's arms. The three of them hugged each other so fiercely, like the world would end if they let go. As the twins were wrapped in Amy's arms they couldn't hold back the tears that escaped.

"I can't believe your finally here. I can't believe this is really happening." Katie whispered.

"Well believe it sweetheart because I am here and I won't ever leave you again." Amy told her daughter. Colin didn't know what to say so he just cried. Finally after about five minutes the three of them pulled a part.

"Now can it be our turn?" the older Irish woman asked. The three of them just laughed.

"You must be Maggie, which makes you Carter. I'm Colin it's nice to meet you." Colin said going over to give the couple a hug.

"And I'm Katie, by the way Maggie I think you won the bet." Katie said following her brother's lead.

"That's Aunt Maggie and Uncle Carter to you two. We are after all your godparents and I think I won the bet too."

"You did not woman! Amy said so herself that Colin looks like her Dad, so I win." Carter told his wife as he hugged the siblings.

"True Colin does look like Elias but Katie doesn't look like Andrew or any of his relatives does she? No she looks like her mother, so I win." Carter was about to respond when a new voice interrupted.

"How about you two stop fighting long enough so the rest of us can meet Colin and Katie?" The other Irishman suggested. He was about six foot two and had bright blue eyes. His once soft brown hair was going grey with age and the dimples he got when he smiled made him seem a lot younger than his sixty years.

"I'm sorry big brother we just assumed you would ignore us like you always do and do what you want." Maggie told the older man, who just rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, Colin, Katie I would like you to meet Charlie, my husband. Charlie these are my other two babies." Amy said quickly before Maggie and Charlie started fighting.

"It is so nice to finally meet you two. I can't tell you how glad I am that you are going to be able to be a part of our lives finally." Charlie told them giving each of them a hug.

"Thank you Charlie, it's nice to finally meet you too." Katie told him, while Colin nodded in agreement. As Charlie moved to stand next to his sister and her husband Katie and Colin couldn't help be notice that there were only two people left behind their mother. Everybody was silent as the young man looked at the twins standing in front of his mother. Nobody knew what to say and it seemed like time just stopped until Colin walked over to the young man.

"You must be Sean, I'm Colin and if you want to know where all the cool spots to party in Connecticut are I'm your man." He told the younger man with a grin. Katie just rolled her eyes and walked up next to her brother.

"No you won't Colin McCrea. This town just recovered from what you, Logan, and Finn did when you were his age. Plus if he is anything like his brother he won't need your help." Stephanie told her husband.

"I'm Katie and don't let Colin get you into trouble it's not worth it besides Finn is better at it than Colin is." The young man in question, who was almost an exact replica of Colin right down to the Huntzberger brown eyes, laughed and was about to respond but was interrupted.

"Thanks for the offer but Sean can find his own trouble. I'm Hollie by the way, his fiancé and it's really nice to meet the two of you." Colin and Katie looked at the young woman who spoke. She was about five foot six and had jet black hair that went slightly past her shoulders. And she had sparkling green eyes that shined with excitement.

"That is so not true Hol, I don't find trouble it finds me. It's nice to meet you guys by the way. And Colin I would love to get your opinion on how to live with insane women."

"Sean I could write a book on how to live with insane women. First of all I have lived with Katie for fifteen years or so. Probably longer and now I am married to Katie's best friend, Stephanie who is almost just as crazy."

"I wouldn't have said that if I were you." Katie told her brother, as Stephanie marched up to her husband and slapped him upside the head.

"Crazy am I? I will have you know that putting up with you and your crap has made me crazy Colin! And if Adam turns out to be just like his Daddy than you are going to be handling him. I'm Stephanie by the way it's nice to meet you Hollie, Sean."

"I make you crazy? Woman do you have any idea what going shopping with you is like? And don't even get me started on all the things you did when you were pregnant, both times."

"Well Colin I think that I have every right to be crazy when I'm pregnant because pushing a person out of you hurts like hell. Nothing I did to you during either pregnancy will make up for what I went through when I gave birth to those kids because all you had to do was provide the sperm and stand there so get over it."

"I think she has you beat son. It's nice to finally meet you Stephanie, speaking of your kids where are my grandchildren?" Amy asked as Stephanie was introduced to the group.

"Well Connor, Riley, Richie, and Becca are still at school but the Twins, Ryan, Adam, and Julie are at Colin and Steph's house with Logan and Rory." Finn answered his mother-in-law.

"That must make you Finn. Katie you weren't kidding when you said he was good looking. I think it is safe to say you are your mother's daughter." Amy said to her daughter as she gave her son-in-law a hug.

"I don't get it?" Carter suddenly announced as Finn was introduced to the rest of them.

"What she means Carter is that the both seem to have a thing for guys with sexy accents." Hollie told him.

"But I don't have an accent and neither does Charlie." The group laughed as they made their way to Katie and Finn's Escalade.

"To them you do. They're American remember, you and Charlie are Irish and Finn is Australian." Maggie explained to her husband.

"Actually Finn prefers to say that he is exotic." Katie said.

"Who is Rory and Logan if you don't mind me asking?" Sean wondered.

"The short version is they are some of our best friends but when you think about it they are family. We have always considered them family but until about six months ago we had no idea that they were actually family." Colin answered.

"Explain please." Carter asked. Katie laughed as she answered.

"Well Logan is our cousin on Mom's side but since we didn't know very much about our mother for so long we just thought he was a really good friend. Rory is his wife."

"Is Logan Mitchum's or Amanda's?" Amy asked.

"Mitchum's." Colin told his Mother.

"I should have known. I knew that Shira was pregnant around the same time I was but I couldn't remember what they had or what they named the baby. They have another one too right? A girl named Hannah or something." Amy asked.

"Honor actually she is about two or three years older than Logan." Katie said.

"Alright so what else should I know?"

"The kid's names and ages. I'll give them to you in order and who they belong to."

"How many of them are there?"

"Nine. The oldest is Connor and he is Finn and mine. Then there is Rebecca, who is Steph and Colin's, followed by Riley, who is Finn and mine. Next is Richie who is Rory and Logan's oldest. Next is Julie, she is Rory and Logan's only girl; then Cayden and Amy, Finn and my twins. Then baby Ryan who Rory had last July and finally Adam who Stephanie had in September."

"Wow Katie how on earth do you keep track of all that?" Sean asked his sister.

"Once you figure out a way to list them it's not that hard. We have one eight year old, three six year olds, three four year olds, and two infants." Katie told her younger brother.

"By the way guys we set you up with rooms at The Prince because we figured you would want to be in the city but with Adam Steph and I don't have the room. Katie and Finn have plenty of room but it is easy to get lost going to or coming from their place. So we figured that would be the easiest." Colin stated.

"That sounds good. So what's first on the agenda?" Amy asked.

"We are going to stop by Colin's first, so we can relieve Rory and Logan of the kids. Then I have to stop by work for a second and so does Colin because we haven't been there in a few days. After that I figured we could go to The Prince for lunch and you guys could get checked in. Next we were going to go pick up the kids from school then meet back at Colin and Steph's for dinner."

"Sounds like a plan but just out of curiosity why haven't you two been to work in a couple of days?" asked Amy. Colin and Katie exchanged glances before answering.

"Dad had a heart attack and hit his head when he fell and now he is in a coma." Colin answered.

"I'm sorry you guys, I had no idea." Amy told her children. It broke her heart a little bit to know that Andrew was sick and it was stressing the kids out. Amy never thought that she would be able to say this but she wasn't mad at him anymore. She learned from talking with her daughter why Andrew did what he did. While that didn't excuse it, she did understand a little bit better. The fact that after all these years he was able to tell them and give her a second chance took guts. It reminded her of the Andrew that she fell in love with all those years ago. But she knew that Colin was still angry at him and knew from what Katie had told her that mentioning that she had forgiven Andrew was probably a bad idea. Colin would come to it in his own way, in his own time. For now she would just enjoy spending time getting to know her children and grandchildren.

They were almost halfway to Colin's when Rory called to tell them that they had taken the kids to Stars Hollow for a couple hours and would be back in time for dinner if they wouldn't mind picking Richie up from school. So instead the group turned around a headed towards Colin's office, after leaving there they went to the offices of Purple Emerald. Once done there they headed off towards The Prince.

After they checked in to The Prince, the group went into the dining room for lunch, where they continued to get to know each other. About halfway through the meal Stephanie looked towards the front of the restaurant and started to laugh.

"It never fails." The blonde laughed. Her companions all looked at her oddly.

"Stephanie what are you talking about?" Katie asked her sister-in-law.

"I told you she was crazy." Colin half whispered to Sean, who just laughed.

"Every time I eat here with you at least one of your in-laws shows up, and this time it's all of them." Stephanie responded causing Katie and Finn to look in the same direction she was. Sure enough standing there waiting for a table was the other five members of Finn's family.

"It shouldn't surprise you all that much Stephanie. After all it is their Hotel." Katie told her friend. While Katie and Stephanie had been talking Finn had gotten up to go invite his family to join them. As soon as the new arrivals were seated and had placed their drink orders Katie and Finn made interdictions.

"Mr. and Mrs. Rothschild it is so nice to see you again, I didn't know you were going to be in town." Katie greeted her in-laws.

"Young lady how many times must we ask you to call us Edward and Jessica? And I say it's about time we got over here for a visit, those twins of yours are almost five and we have yet to meet them. Now how are you my dear?" Edward Rothschild answered his daughter-in-law.

"I'm just fine Edward, and I'm glad that you decided to come for a visit. Connor and Riley will be thrilled. I would like to introduce you guys to the other half of my family. This is my Mom, Amy and her husband Charlie. Next we have my little brother Sean and his fiancé Hollie, and then there is Maggie and Carter. They are Mom's best friends and apparently Colin and my Godparents. Guys, this is Edward and Jessica Rothschild Finn's Dad and step-mom. Next to them is Jennifer Morgan, Finn's Mom. Last but certainly not least is Jordan and Amelia his brother and sister." Katie introduced. For the next hour the group talked and made plans to get together. Everyone agreed that the Rothschild's coming to dinner tonight was an excellent idea. After they had finished lunch it was time to go pick up the kids from school but since there wasn't enough room in Katie and Finn's SUV for everybody the group decided to spit up and meet back at Colin and Stephanie's. Finn, Stephanie, Maggie, Carter, Charlie, Sean, and Hollie headed back to Colin and Stephanie's to help get dinner started, while Amy went with Katie and Colin to pick up the kids.

"So how is your father really doing?" Amy asked them on the way to the school. Colin got a sour look on his face but didn't respond and Katie sighed before answering.

"His doctor's aren't really sure. They fixed his heart but they can't explain why he isn't waking up. One of the nurses said that it seemed like he was waiting for something so he could wake up or let go. I don't know though, I just wish that he would wake up." Amy nodded but didn't say anything else. A few minutes later they pulled in to the parking lot of the kid's school and as Katie parked the car Amy couldn't help but get butterflies in her stomach at the realization that she would be meeting her grandchildren in a few minutes. She followed the twins as they walked up to the front of the school but as Katie stopped to speak with what Amy assumed was a teacher she couldn't help but hang back a little bit to see if she could pick her grandchildren out from the crowd. She was afraid that despite having seen pictures she wouldn't recognize them but she surprised herself when she noticed three young kids about six years old talking to each other. There were two girls and a little boy; the first young girl had pretty shoulder length blond hair and big brown eyes that Amy remembered Colin having when he was born, so she figured that this was Rebecca. Next to Rebecca was a little boy who looked exactly as her brother Mitchum had when he was six so Amy figured it was safe to assume that this was Mitchum's grandson Richie. Finally Amy turned to look at the second little girl and she couldn't help but smile when she noticed that Riley had hair that was a deep red color just like Katie's had been when she was born. While Amy had been watching her grandchildren, Katie had finished talking with their teacher and turned around to see where her mother had gotten off too. Amy hadn't noticed her twins come up beside her so she jumped a little when Katie said her name.

"Mom, are you alright?" Katie asked her mother who had tears in her eyes.

"Yes I'm fine it's just that they are so beautiful Katie." Amy told her daughter tearfully.

"Thank you Mom. Now would you like to meet them?"

"Of course I would." While the two of them had been talking Colin had gathered the three kids up and was walking towards the two women. As the foursome got closer, Riley broke away from the group to show her Mother what she did in school that day.

"Mommy look I got a hundred on my spelling test today and I was the only one in the class who did!" the little girl greeted her mother. Katie smiled down at her daughter.

"That's great sweetie. Now how did you do on your math test?" Riley made a face at her mom's question.

"Not that good but not that bad. What are we going to have for dinner?"

"We are all going to get together at Aunt Stephanie's tonight because there are some very special people in town that want to meet all you kids."

"Like who Mommy?"

"Like your grandma Huntzberger."

"But Mommy I don't have a grandma Huntzmberger, only Richie, Ryan and Julie do. I have a grandma Morgan and a grandma Rothschild."

"No Riley you also have a grandma Huntzberger but she isn't the same one as Julie, Richie and Ryan's. She is my Mommy."

"Oh she is your Mommy but I thought you had the same last name as Uncle Colin before you married Daddy."

"I did sweetheart but that's because Grandpa Andrew's last name is the same name that Uncle Colin and I have. My Mommy and Daddy haven't been married in a long time so they have different last names."

"Mommy I don't get it and who is that?" Riley told her mother while pointing at Amy.

"I'll explain it when you're older and that is your grandma Huntzberger." Amy smiled down at the little girl, who was studying the older woman very intently.

"Are you the same lady that Uncle Logan's grandpa told me I looked like? Cause you have read hair and he said that his daughter had red hair like mine but then he said her name was Amy. Are you her?" The little girl asked which surprised her Mom and Uncle because they weren't sure that she remembered what Elias said to her that night. Amy just laughed.

"Yes honey I think I am that Amy."

"Nice to meet you my name is Riley Nicole Morgan-Rothschild." Riley said as she stuck her hand out the same way that she had seen her Daddy and Uncle's do every time they meet someone new.

"Very nice to meet you Riley."

"Mommy I can't call her grandma Huntzmberger because that would be confusing for Richie and Julie."

"Well how about the two of you talk and come up with something else to call her Riley?"

"Ok, what should I call you?" Amy smiled at her granddaughter.

"How about you call me Grandma Amy."

"I like that! Now you have to come meet Becca cause you must be her grandma too if you are Mommy's Mommy. Cause Uncle Colin is Mommy's brother and he is Becca's Daddy." Riley said as she took Amy by the hand pulling her towards her cousins and Uncle.

"Becca this is Grandma Amy she is Mommy and Uncle Colin's Mommy, Grandma Amy this is Becca." Riley introduced the two. Amy smiled down at her blond granddaughter who just looked up at her with her Daddies big brown eyes.

"Riley are you sure this is Daddies Mommy? Cause she doesn't look like Daddy and Daddy tells me all the time that I look like my Mommy." Rebecca said to her cousin.

"Becca baby just because you look like your Mommy doesn't mean that I will look like mine. I actually look like my Daddy and this is my Mommy. She is your Grandma Amy can you say hi to her." Colin told his daughter.

"Nice to meet you Grandma Amy even if you don't look like my Daddy you do look like my Auntie Katie who Daddy says is his twin. Have you met my new brother yet?" Rebecca asked her Grandmother.

"No I haven't meet him yet but I think once we go get Connor and get back to your house I can meet him. Now will you girls introduce me to your other cousin?" The two of them looked confused for a minute before they remembered that Richie was with them.

"Sure Grandma Amy. Richie, Becca and me would like you to meet our Grandma Amy. Uncle Logan and Auntie Rory are Richie's Mommy and Daddy." The little boy looked up at Amy for a minute as if he was trying to decide something.

"I'm Richie nice to meet you. Can we go get Connor now so I don't have to hang out with the girls no more?" Richie asked his Uncle. The Adults just laughed before they made their way over to where Connor was. Once she spotted her brother Riley ran up to him and told him all about their Grandma Amy.

"You must be Grandma Amy, I'm Connor nice to meet you." The eight year old greeted Amy. Amy smiled at her grandson and noticed that he looked exactly like his father except he had his mother's blue eyes.

"Nice to meet you too Connor."

"Mom do you think Dad will help me with my fort this weekend?" Connor asked his Mom as they walked out to the car.

"I don't know sweetheart because it's not just Grandma Amy that is in town, we also have some of her friends, Maggie and Carter and her husband Charlie and their son Sean and his fiancé Hollie."

"Oh, does that mean Sean is our Uncle and Charlie is our Grandpa like Grandma Rothschild is our Grandma?" Connor asked.

"Yes that is exactly what it means."

"Cool."

The group got in the car and made their way to Colin's house. Once there they made introductions and got dinner ready. They were joined a little bit later by Finn's family. Dinner that night went smoothly and after making plans for the next day they all went to their respective homes for the night.

Over the next few days Amy and her group spent a lot of time with the family without much of a break but about midway through their trip she finally got some time to sneak away and do something she never thought she would do. Katie, Stephanie and Rory were at work, while Finn, Logan and Colin took Charlie, Carter and Sean out for a guy's day. This left Amy, Maggie, and Hollie to fend for themselves for the day. Maggie could tell that Amy wanted to be alone so she took Hollie and decided to go antiquing for the day. Amy was grateful that her friend knew her so well and as soon as they were out the door Amy grabbed her purse and headed out. It took her twenty minutes to reach Hartford Memorial and once inside she realized that she had no idea where she was going so she stopped at the nurses' station for directions. Once she got what she needed she headed towards the elevators, standing there waiting she couldn't help but notice the young man that was waiting next to her. He looked to be about Colin's age maybe a year or two younger and he had blond hair and blue eyes that looked a little familiar. Amy couldn't shake the feeling that she knew him from somewhere but couldn't place him. When he got on the same elevator with her the feeling became stronger because he flashed her a smile that reminded her of her sister. They had only been in there a minute when the young man spoke to her.

"Excuse me this might sound a little strange but I feel like I know you from somewhere. Have we met?" He asked her politely.

"I'm not sure if we have met but I was just thinking you looked a little familiar to me too. I'm Amy Chase and you are?"

"Tristan DuGrey, I don't think we have met either but I feel like I know you isn't that weird?" Amy laughed as he said his name knowing at once why he looked so familiar.

"Actually it isn't really because I believe that we can all recognize family when we see them." He looked confused at her statement.

"Family? What makes you think we are related?"

"Because I know that my sister married a man named Jacob DuGrey and you have what my mother called the Huntzberger blue eyes."

"What did you say your name was?"

"Amy and I'm sure that your Mother has never mentioned me because when I divorced my husband and moved to Ireland she just thought that was the stupidest thing in the world to do."

"Ok that definitely sounds like something my Mom would do but I'm still not convinced."

"Well I know that her name is Amanda. That you have a cousin named Logan, an Uncle named Mitchum and Marshall."

"Alright I believe you. It's nice to meet you, so what are doing here?"

"Visiting an old friend what about you?"

"I'm going to see if my wife wants to have lunch with me, she's a nurse."

"That is very cool, well it was nice to meet you Tristan maybe we could have dinner some time but only if you bring your wife and I promise to bring at least one of my kids so you won't be bored."

"That sounds nice but who are your kids maybe I know them already."

"Katie and Colin McCrea."

"Katie and Colin are my cousins? Very cool we all get along really well since my daughter Elizabeth is Connor's age. Juliet or I will call one of them and set it up."

"Sounds like a plan. Well this is my stop it was nice to meet you." As she got off the elevator Amy wondered how her sister managed to raise such a nice young man, but as she got closer to her destination her nephew slipped off of her mind and she focused on what she was about to do. When she arrived at Andrew's room she noticed that there was a woman about her age sitting in the chair by his bed talking to him. She was about to go when the woman turned around and addressed her.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt." Amy told her turning to leave.

"It's alright I was just catching him up on some things he missed at work. The doctor says that if you talk to them it could help them to know that there is still someone worth waking up for. I know that his kids have been here but I also know that they have busy lives so I thought I would try and help. I'm Julia by the way and you are?"

"An old friend." Was all Amy said.

"Oh well one of the nurses thinks that he is waiting for something and I think that he is waiting for his son to forgive him but that is just my opinion. I was about to read to him but if you want I can leave the book and you can do it."

"That would be great thanks." Amy told her. Julia got up and handed the book to Amy while saying her goodbyes to her boss. Amy's eyes went wide as she saw what book the woman was planning on reading Andrew.

"Julia why were you going to read him this book?" Amy asked her just before she left.

"Oh it was on the table in his study and it looked like he had been reading it, plus there was a piece of paper inside that looked like he was using it as a bookmark so I just thought I would read it to him." Amy thanked her once more and Julia left. Amy sat down and opened The Book to the page that was marked, the paper inside had some writing on it and Amy couldn't help but read it. Shock went through her once more as she read the letter her daughter wrote to her father. She sat there and thought about what it meant, she wondered if he had caught on to what Katie was trying to tell him yet. She looked down at The Book and read the part he was at. She almost blushed like a school girl when she read about her first time with Charlie and was a little embarrassed knowing that her daughter had read it. She was shaken out of her thoughts about what Andrew reading The Book meant by a nurse who was coming in to check his vitals.

"Are you alright Ms?" The young nurse asked.

"Oh sorry you startled me. I was just thinking but I'm fine thank you. How is he doing?"

"About the same no better no worse, which is good and bad all at the same time. Have a good day." The nurse told her before leaving to finish her rounds. After the nurse left Amy put The Book in her purse so she could ask her daughter about it later and settled in to talk to Andrew.

"Hi Andrew it's Amy, I didn't think that I would ever be here. That I would ever be in a place where I could see you again and not be angry at what happened but after the last six months I suddenly find myself finally being able to let it go. I don't know if you understood how badly it hurt to realize that I was losing you. I know that we were still together but I was losing the part of you that I fell in love with. You were becoming too much like a society jerk and while I knew you couldn't help it and that you pushed that girl away telling her you were married. It didn't change the fact that seeing you and her made something inside me snap. I suddenly had a vision of myself being that wife, the one who ignores the fact that her husband cheats and her kids are spoiled. I didn't want to be her, I wanted to stay me and the only way I thought I could do that was by not being your wife any more. I know that my decision hurt you more then I meant it too, which is why you did what you did. I have to be honest that I was very angry at you for that for a long time but now that you have given the kids and I a chance to know each other I have come to the realization that I'm not angry at you anymore. We both did things that hurt each other and we both could have done things differently. However we can't change what happened so I hope that we can move on and be in the same room as each other without fighting because I am going to be a part of our children and grandchildren's lives no matter what you say. I have to tell you that I think Katie has forgiven you and in time I believe that Colin will too. The reason I know this is because he is more like his father then I think he realizes. Now I promise I will talk to Charlie, Maggie and Carter and tell them that they have to be civil to you again. Please wake up Andrew the world won't be the same without you." When Amy finished speaking she sat there for a few minutes just watching Andrew sleep a lot like she did in the early stages of their relationship. She remembered thinking how lucky she was that he was a part of her life and often wondered what life would be like had she never met Andrew. She now knew that her life wouldn't be that different. She would have found away to go to school with Maggie and Carter and maybe Charlie and she would have gotten together much sooner. But if that had happened then she wouldn't have had Katie and Colin and Emma would have never been born either, and Amy couldn't imagine a world without her twins and Charlie's little girl. As she got up to leave she decided to take The Book out of her purse so Andrew could finish it when he woke up. Leaving the hospital she felt a weight come off her shoulders that she had forgotten she was carrying but realized that the Andrew chapter in her life had finally come to a close.

A week later everybody was at Katie and Finn's just hanging out for the day when the phone rang.

"Hello." Katie answered.

"Mrs. Morgan, its Dr. McNally from Hartford Memorial. Do you have a minute?"

"Yes Doctor I do, is there a problem with my Dad?" At Katie's question everybody stopped what they were doing to listen.

"No actually, I just called to tell you that he was awake and asking for your brother and you."

"That's wonderful thank you Dr. McNally! Colin and I can probably make it there in a little while, will you still be there?"

"If you are planning on coming in then yes I can be here to answer any questions you might have."

"Thank you! We will be there soon. Goodbye Doctor." Katie had a relieved look on her face as she hung up the phone.

"Love is everything alright?" Her husband asked her. She looked at him and smiled.

"Colin Dad's awake and I am going to go see him and talk to the doctor. I want you to come with me." Katie asked her brother.

"Of course I'm coming." Colin answered her. As he said this his wife suddenly left the room coming back a few minutes later with something in her hand.

"And you will take these pictures of Adam with you; I think it's time for Andrew to know what his new grandson looks like. And when he gets out of that place then I want to have him over for dinner Colin. This is not an option alright?" Colin just took the pictures from Stephanie without a fight because he knew that he was starting to forgive his father even if he wasn't ready to admit it out loud yet. So armed with pictures and well wishes from the family the twins set out for the hospital.

Once the siblings arrived on Andrew's floor they were stopped by the doctor.

"I'm glad to let you guys know that your father is doing really well. In fact he is ready to go home." Katie and Colin looked at the doctor in confusion as he said this.

"If he just woke up then why are you sending him home already? Don't you need to try and figure out why he was in a coma?" Colin asked.

"Well to be honest he woke up about a week ago and when he was asked if he wanted us to call you guys he told us no." Colin had to take a deep breath to keep his anger at the doctor's words under control.

"Thank you doctor is there anything else we should know?" Katie asked so Colin had time to get his anger under control.

"Nothing except what I told you when he first came in. Less stress and less red meat."

"Thank you for everything." Katie told the doctor before he walked away. She turned to her brother to try and calm him before they went in to see Andrew. She could understand why her father waited to see them but she knew Colin didn't.

"Colin, you shouldn't be mad that he didn't ask to see us right away. I'm sure once the doctor told him that he would be fine he figured that he should wait because he knew that you were still really angry with him over what happened." She explained to him. Her reasoning seemed to make sense to him and his anger slipped away.

"Alright let's go see Dad." Katie just smiled at him before leading the way into the room.

As they walked into the hospital room Andrew was sitting up in bed reading something and to the siblings he looked like the man that they had grown up with. He looked up at them and smiled when they walked in.

"Hi kids, how are you?" Andrew greeted them like he would before he told them about Amy. Katie blinked back tears and went to give her father a hug.

"I'm so glad you're ok Daddy."

"You have no idea how great it is to hear you call me that again."

"Yeah well you scared us. I don't want you to ever do that again ok?"

"Yes ma'am." The older man said. After the pair's brief reunion they turned to look at Colin who had stayed quiet by the door. After a few minutes of silence he spoke.

"Why didn't you call us?" the younger man asked. Andrew looked confused.

"What?"

"When you woke up, why didn't you call us?"

"Because I knew that your mother was in town and I wasn't sure that you two wanted to see me."

"Dad how do you know Mom is in town? And I don't know about Colin but I'm ready to put the whole thing behind me. I have heard both sides and now that I have both of you I'm good. I see no reason to stay angry." Katie told them.

"I'm not going to tell you that I'm not a little bit pissed at you still but life is too short and plus the kids miss you and Stephanie says that you have to come take your new grandson away for a little bit so she can get some peace." Colin stated.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. I understand that what I did was wrong and I promise to never do something like it to you two again. I just want to be able to be a part of your lives again and if that means I have to do some major sucking up then I think I can do that. As for your mother I think she came to see me because Julia came by and asked me if I had a girlfriend. I told her no and then she told me that a woman came to see me, when she described her to me the first thing that popped into my head was that it was Amy. But I'm not completely sure because as the two of you know I haven't seen her in thirty-three years."

"Well she didn't say anything to us about coming here but she is in town so it's possible. Now since you are getting released today I have decided that you are going to come stay with us. I don't want to hear any arguments because Finn and I have the most room and you won't be going back to work for a while. I think Colin can handle things for a few weeks but Mom is at the house so you have to be nice. I will not tolerate any fighting between the two of you or between you and Charlie. I will not hesitate to discipline you like I do my own kids is that understood?" Andrew laughed but agreed to Katie's rules, while Colin went to go see about getting the release papers taken care of. The three of them were in the car on the way back to Katie's before Andrew got the nerve up to ask the question that had been bugging him.

"So who all came with your Mom?" The twins exchanged glances before answering.

"Um she brought Charlie who I'm sure you know is her husband. Maggie and Carter tagged along and she has a son with Charlie named Sean and he brought his fiancé Hollie." Katie told her Dad. While Katie had been talking Colin had been sending Stephanie and Finn text messages to warn them that they were bringing Andrew with them. The two of them promised that they would try and convince everybody to be nice, while Stephanie mentioned that dinner would be ready when they got home. Thirty minutes later they pulled into the drive way where they were greeted by Connor, Riley, and Rebecca.

"Grandpa! Have come to meet my new brother? Because I have been telling Adam all about you and he wants to meet you." Rebecca said giving her grandfather a hug.

"Hi kids. Of course I want to meet Adam you silly girl the only reason I haven't is because work has been so busy. I was out of town for a while."

"Grandpa you have to see my new jump shot. I finally got it right; Dad has been practicing with me." Connor told Andrew excitedly.

"I would love to see it. Maybe you can show me after dinner?" The eight year old quickly agreed with the older man. The six of them continued up to the house where they were met by Finn outside the front door.

"Everyone has agreed to be civil because the kids are here but Charlie said to tell you that he makes no promises once they go to bed." Finn told his father-in-law, who just nodded in agreement. The group went inside and sat down to dinner. True to their word everybody was civil to each other all night until the kids had settled in to watch a movie downstairs. It looked like Charlie was about to say something when Amy gave him a look, which quickly shut him up.

"I want everybody to know that I have decided, just like I believe Katie and Colin have, to put this all behind me. There is no point in arguing about what happened. It happened and now it's over and done with. No amount of anger will change that which you all should believe to be true because it is anger that got us here in the first place. Any questions?" Amy told the group. No one seemed to have any until Andrew got up to get something from the living room.

"I actually have a question but it's for my daughter. Why did you give me this Book?" Andrew asked Katie while showing her The Book. The three Irish adults gasped at the sight of it, all silently wondering where Katie got The Book from.

"Did you read it?" Katie answered.

"Yes I did and I think I get it now but I still want to know why?"

"Well like I said Rory found it in some out of the way bookstore and it intrigued me. When I started to read it I felt like it was real, like it had really happened and I didn't know why. So when you told Colin and I about Mom I started to suspect that I was right, that the events in The Book did happen. Not only did I start to believe that but the more I got to know Mom the more I became convinced that she wrote it. After hearing your story and reading hers I understood what really happened when you two were together. I knew what she did hurt you so you decided to hurt her right back but a part of me felt like you didn't know all of her side of the story. So I decided to give you The Book so you could read her side. I was going to make Colin read it next."

"Katie you can't possibly know that Mom wrote that book." Colin told her.

"Colin if you read it you would be thinking that too. If you don't believe me ask Rory what she thinks."

"I think your Mom could have written it Colin." Rory told her friend.

"Mom did you really write that Book?" Sean asked his Mother.

"Yes I did. My therapist thought it would be a good idea to write things down, so I did. Once when I was having a particularly bad day I sat down and I typed it all out. It really did help me. Then one day when I was adding to it Carter came over. He was picking me up so we could meet Maggie for lunch and I was in my room finishing getting ready. I had left the document open on my computer and Carter read it. I was so mad at him we didn't speak for a year but then my therapist told me that maybe I should let some people read it. Somehow that led to it getting published and now here we are." Amy explained. Shortly after everybody said their goodbyes and went home for the night.

To the six friends it felt like the start of something new, they knew of course that Charlie and Andrew would probably never get along but tonight had proven that everybody could move on from what had happened. That even if Amy, Colin, and Katie never fully forgave Andrew it would still be alright and everything would work out. The important thing was that they were a family. A crazy kind of unconventional family that was brought together by something that seemed insignificant.

**Alright so I realize that it has been months since I have updated this and I feel really really really bad about it. But there have been a lot of things going on in my life that kept me from this story. But I have been working on getting this chapter out whenever I have a spare moment, which is why it took so long. Sadly this is the last chapter. I wasn't quite sure how to end it so I hope the ending is ok and I hope that there are still some readers out there. Please let me know what you think. It looks like things might be slowing down at the moment so I am trying to start the sequel to Saving Logan. Which I hope to have up soon. Sorry again that this is so late.**

** Brianna**


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